Type 1 diabetes (the really bad one caused by your own immune system…) may have a surprisingly simple solution: someone else’s immune system.
Stanford researchers combined blood stem cells and pancreatic islet cells from mismatched mice donors (i.e. not a perfect genetic match), creating hybrid immune systems. Result: 19 out of 19 mice avoided diabetes entirely and 9 out of 9 with diabetes were cured. No immune suppressants and no insulin, and they stayed healthy for six months.
This builds on earlier work with kidney transplants, but cracks the harder autoimmune problem where the immune system targets insulin-producing cells like tiny cellular fascists. It turns out one commonly used autoimmune medication in the pre-transplant mix was enough to fix the issue.
Even better, every component already exists in clinical practice so human trials look feasible. The catch is supply: islets come only from deceased donors, and you need blood stem cells from the same person but Stanford is now exploring lab-grown islets to eliminate the queue.
🧐 What's in it for me? If this translates to humans, Type 1 diabetes could become curable rather than manageable. For autoimmune diseases broadly, this also hints at a new paradigm where we can reset the immune system instead of suppressing it forever. Trials could start within a few years, assuming the islet supply problem gets solved.
💵 Out of the Lab: Autoimmune diseases represent a massive untapped and terrifyingly fast growing market, whilst Stanford's conditioning approach could unlock stem cell transplants far beyond diabetes.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals recently made waves with islet cell therapy, but they still require immunosuppression. If hybrid immunity eliminates that need, whoever commercialises Stanford's protocol first could dominate the space.
BlueRock Therapeutics (a Bayer company) is also chasing lab-grown islet production at scale.
The real prize is cracking this as a platform technology: validating solutions for things like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and mismatched organ transplants could unlock markets far larger than diabetes alone.
Until next time, stay curious.
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