title: Human umbilical cord blood cells and diabetes mellitus: recent advances.
abstract: Stem cell therapy for patients with diabetes is an area of great interest to both scientists and clinicians. Human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCBCs) are being increasingly used as a source of stem cells for cell-based therapy for diabetes because these cells can differentiate into pancreatic islet β-cells. Administration of HUCBCs has been shown to lower blood glucose levels in diabetic animal models. The use of autologous HUCBC transfusion in type 1 diabetic children has not shown any benefit. However, "Stem Cell Educator" therapy has shown promise in long term lowering of blood glucose levels in both type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients. In this review, we will briefly discuss recent advances in HUCBC therapy in the treatment of diabetes and some of its complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ 07103, United States. reddias@njms.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Alluru S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Reddi
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kothari
authors.forename: Kishore
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kuppasani
authors.forename: Norman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ende
mesh_terms: D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000628:therapy*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000628:therapy*; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans