
May I be the first to say
It sound like a load of bollocks to me.
Coat acquisition underway thank you.
Topflight geneticists say they have managed to cure diabetes in mice by grafting material from dead men's testicles onto them. The development may mean that in future, human (male) diabetes sufferers can in effect grow a replacement bollock-based pancreas from such tissues. According to an announcement from the lab involved, …
Reading the article, I came up with this idea: Do you know the Catholic priests? They are the perfect donors. They're not supposed to marry, thus not supposed to have sex and reproduce, so imagine how many people their testicles can save! But then I heard this voice in my head saying: thing of the children!
also have that voice- that's why they get into the papers...
Saying that, it's a good point- plus they're helping the needy (a good thing for Christians) and having holes poked in them (which Christ underwent, though in a different part of the body). Oh, AND they're putting otherwise wasted testicular matter to waste (which, if my memories of Monty Python are correct, is good for Catholics).
Problem: no insulin producing cells (beta cells)
Question: why?
Answers:
1 - type 1 diabetes
2 - pancreatic cancer
3 - severe pancreatitis
re - #1 - Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune system failure. The person's own immune system is/has attacked the insulin producing cells - killing them. Producing more cells from testes or else where from the same person results in - guess what - more auto immune system based destruction of Beta cells. ergo - sooner ( more likely) or later no more beta cells -- again.
re #2 - well.... the only time in which the teste based replacement therapy might be useful would be when the pancreas was removed, other wise the cancer is likely to spread to the 'new' pancreas.
re#3 - this is one place where it will be useful. The lab I work in is doing an experimental therapy, for patient's who's pancreas is being removed. We take the removed pancreas, remove and isolate the beta cells, then re-inject them into the patient into the liver. Where they function normally. However, this is a stop gap measure, as eventually they will all die off; as there are no more pancreatatic stem cells (no pancreas) there is no renewal of the beta cells. So... when they die they are gone.
This new therapy could be very useful here. Although, I suspect that root cause of the original pancreatitis will return and damage the new organ.