Search
Close this search box.

Weekly reads: diabetes, GvHD, Novo Nordisk & regenerative medicine, HDACs – The Niche

Do many in the regenerative medicine field have favorite types of stem cells?

Some seem to think there’s a tension between those working on pluripotent stem cells like iPS cells and those working with MSCs. I don’t see it that way, though.

Whatever stem cells work best for a particular condition should be used and, if successful, celebrated. There are also areas of overlap between these areas, including with MSCs made from iPS cells.  Let’s talk about a new paper in this zone of overlap.

mesenchymal cells, regenerative medicine
Human MSCs or mesenchymal cells grown in the Knoepfler lab. Other kinds of MSCs are being tested in regenerative medicine clinical trials.

Recommended stem cell & regenerative medicine reads

diabetes stem cells
Headline claiming a type II diabetes cure via stem cells. The headline is misleading as this is an N=1 report.

Stem cells for diabetes: encouraging N=1 report is overblown in media

This story of a cure for type II diabetes has been floating around for a few days now. The media have really grabbed onto the “cure” narrative. Here’s the Cell Discovery article: Treating a type 2 diabetic patient with impaired pancreatic islet function by personalized endoderm stem cell-derived islet tissue. So far this one patient is doing great, but it is just N=1 so far.