Managing Type 1 Diabetes from Gynecological Waste: Trash to Treasure

Abstract

Abstract: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), an autoimmune disease, involves the destruction of pancreatic β cells. β cells maintain glucose homeostasis by identifying blood glucose and accordingly releasing insulin to maintain normal physiologic glucose levels. Human umbilical cord blood (hUCB) cells pose a lesser risk of viral contamination due to low placental transmission during prenatal life. Additionally, they have advantages such as non-invasive harvest procedure gynecological waste, low immunogenicity, easy expansion in-vitro, and easy ethical access compared to deriving stem cells from other sources. According to the published preclinical data, the infusion of autologous cord blood cells is considered safe as they are non-antigenic. Depending on the degree of differentiation, the ability to regenerate themselves and the origin of many stem cell types can be differentiated. The application of stem cells (SCs) has great potential for managing T1DM due to their regenerative capabilities and promising immunological characteristics. Due to lesser ethical complications and easy procedures of isolation, hUCB has become a precious medical intervention.