The problem, though, is that the most people who need to know about these advances are not fully aware of the new information. Although diabetes cannot, as yet, be complete cured, there are some recent discoveries that enable one to effectively monitor and manage the disease. This applies for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Also, research on type 1 diabetes has yielded cures that have great potential in stopping the disease from making a turn for the worse.



For type 1 diabetes patients, a pancreatic transplant can free one of the need for insulin injections that he used to routinely have to put up with. In most cases, though, the patient still needs to take immunosuppressive medications.

One other cure that has been touted to have great potential is the use of exogenous beta cells. An alternative would be the use of stem cells to treat type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients. There is still the need, however, for the use of immunosuppressive medications in the long term as these treatments have the side effect wherein the immune system attacks the transplanted cells.

There is another promising potential cure associated with the use of nanotechnology. By using microscopic implants to inject insulin into the blood stream and monitor blood glucose levels consistently, diabetes could potentially be fully cured without the need for medication or surgery. This method is still mostly theory. Scientists are still performing research in this area and further advancements in technology are required.

A more recent finding in the area of type 1 diabetes cures has been made. In trials that have been performed, anti-CD3 antibodies and proinsulin peptides have been used together as therapy. This combination has been to reverse type 1 diabetes in animal tests that were performed and plans are being made to perform human clinical trials using this method. In animal testing trials, this combination has been successful in producing a long lasting reversal of type 1 diabetes of over a year's length.

With the use of pro-insulin peptides and anti-CD3 antibodies, the immune system is trained to tolerate beta cells transplanted in the pancreas. As a result, there is less possibility of the immune system attacking these cells.

As you can see, medical science and research has made plenty of headway in the treatment of diabetes. Although there is still a lot to do, you can be assured that an effective cure for diabetes would soon be underway.