A study to determine if patients with type 2 diabetes can benefit from a combination of autologous (patient self-donated) stem cell infusions (ASC) and hyperbaric (above the normal air pressure of ) oxygen treatment (HBO) before and after ASC has found "significant benefits" in terms of "improvements in glycemic control" along with "reduced insulin requirements."
The combination therapy could decrease type 2 diabetes morbidity and mortality, said the authors, who published their study results in the latest issue of Cell Transplantation (Vol. 17 No.12).
"Autologous stem cell therapies are an emerging set of therapies with promising results and low side effects profiles," said corresponding co-author Esteban Estrada, MD, of Stem Cell Argentina. "In addition, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, used primarily in the treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning, air embolism suffered by divers, and as an enhancement to wound healing, has been shown to increase stem cell mobilization and the release of endothelial progenitor cells via a nitric oxide-dependent mechanism."
The clinical trial evaluated the safety of ASC-HBO combination treatment in 25 patients with type 2 diabetes.
According to the researchers, it is well known that with type 2 diabetes, there is an ongoing inflammation of the pancreas. Their hypothesis suggested that mobilizing stem cells would cause the growth of blood vessels (angiogenesis) and release factors that would result in the local differentiation of progenitor cells with a resulting anti-inflammatory effect. Diabetes, they added, has been shown to impair progenitor cell mobilization, a problem that local stem cell infusion could remedy.