Canadian researchers are studying whether pig cells might help patients suffering from Type 1 diabetes eliminate the need for daily injections or insulin pumps.
The scientists are continuing research begun in Mexico. Researchers there examined whether it was possible to treat some diabetics by infusing patients with pig cells that produce insulin.
The Mexican research appeared to be successful, but was cancelled because it did not meet international standards. Sam Golas, 13, was one of very few people in the world to have undergone the experimental treatment after travelling to Mexico four years ago.
He was infused with insulin-producing cells from pigs in what was considered a controversial animal-to-human transplant. The procedure did not get rid of his diabetes, but he now uses 20 per cent less insulin because the pig cells appear to be making some of the insulin for him.
"It was a big improvement and it was a big step and every Canadian should have the opportunity to have it done," his father, Nathan Golas, told Â鶹´«Ã½.
The treatment doesn't require any powerful anti-rejection drugs, and pig-cell transplants appear to have worked in other young diabetics to varying degrees.
The Mexican study was never followed up. But Canadian researchers are now hoping to find solutions to some unanswered questions.
"There's no doubt in my mind that the treatment the patients got in Mexico was of benefit to those patients," Dr. David White told Â鶹´«Ã½.
White and a team of scientists have been refining the technique and are in discussions with the U.S Food and drug administration for further experiments.
"We can make it work much better than those initial, I think, very courageous studies," White said.
Depending on the results of some upcoming studies on animals, researchers hope to begin testing the pig cells in humans as soon as the fall of 2009.
