Stem Cell-Based Therapies: A New Ray of Hope for Diabetic Patients

Diabetes and its complications are a significant health concern throughout the globe. There are physiological differences in the mechanism of type-I and type-II diabetes and the conventional drug therapy as well as insulin administration seem to be insufficient to address the problem at large successfully. Hypoglycemic swings, frequent dose adjustments and resistance to the drug are major problems associated with drug therapy. Cellular approaches through stem cell based therapeutic interventions offer a promising solution to the problem. The need for pancreatic transplants in case of Type- I diabetes can also be by-passed/reduced due to the formation of insulin producing β cells via stem cells. Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs) and induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs), successfully used for generating insulin producing β cells. Although many experiments have shown promising results with stem cells in vitro, their clinical testing still needs more exploration. The review attempts to bring into light the clinical studies favoring the transplantation of stem cells in diabetic patients with an objective of improving insulin secretion and improving degeneration of different tissues in response to diabetes. It also focuses on the problems associated with successful implementation of the technique and possible directions for future research.