A study was conducted by Esteban Estrada, M.D. of Stem Cell Argentina to evaluate whether type 2 diabetes patients could benefit from a combined treatment of autologous stem cell infusions (stem cells that the patient donated to himself) and hyperbaric oxygen treatment administered before and after the infusions. The results, which were published in the latest issue of Cell Transplantation, found “significant benefits in terms of improvements in glycemic control and reduced insulin requirements.” As noted by Associate Editor Dr. Cesar V Borlongan, “A decade ago, research had explored stem cell transplantation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy as standalone treatments. This study highlights the potential benefits of using an unusual combination therapy to treat diabetes.”
Researchers have long known that type 2 diabetes causes ongoing inflammation of the pancreas. They hypothesized that injecting stem cells would enable blood vessels to grow and “release factors that would result in the local differentiation of progenitor cells with a resulting anti-inflammatory effect.” The disease is also known to inhibit progenitor cell mobilization, which they believed a local stem cell infusion could alleviate. They further hypothesized that hyperbaric treatment would increase the mobilization of the stem cells in such a manner as “to target more than one crucial reparative step to counteract the chronic injury that attack the endothelial progenitor cells and the islet cells.”
According to Dr. Estrada, autologous stem cell infusions are an emerging set of therapies with promising results and low side effects. “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,” he says.
News Release; Stem cell infusion and hyperbaric oxygen treatment improve islet function in diabetes www.eurekalert.org March 12, 2009
