The present study reviewed the current medical literature for new data on immunological applications involving stem cells for the treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

T1DM is an autoimmune disease caused by a destruction of the insulin-producing cells (IPC) in the pancreas. This means that the immune system, which normally ignores healthy cells but destroys germs and foreign substances that can cause illness, mistakenly attacks the pancreas’ own cells. This leads to complete lack of insulin, thus elevated blood sugar. Current treatment for T1DM involves insulin injections, insulin pump or inhaled insulin. Other experimental alternatives are immunotherapy (modifying the immune response), pancreatic transplant and IPC transplantation. But these methods are not perfect and patients remain at risk for serious long-term health problems.

New approaches for T1DM treatment focus on Stem Cells (SC)-based applications. SCs are undifferentiated (blank) cells found in the human body that have the potential to transform into many different cell types that carry various functions in the body. SCs can be found in the human embryo (embryonic SC; ESCs), in the umbilical cord of the newborn (cord blood SCs), in the bone marrow (mesenchymal SCs) – the tissue that fills the cavity of most bones), or in the blood (hematopoietic SCs). There also exist induced pluripotent SC (iPS) which are adult cells that have been reprogrammed genetically to act like ESCs.

Researchers are directing stem cells to turn into new IPCs able to release insulin in response to glucose levels. Stem cells have been shown to possess immunological properties which means that they may be able to overcome the attack of the immune system on the IPC. One major drawback of SC therapy is their potential to cause cancer.

In conclusion, although SC applications are still highly experimental, they show real promise and could offer in the future a real cure for T1DM.