In some of the most promising research to date, Duke doctors are moving closer to a cure for for diabetes. Diabetes is a potentially crippling disease where sugar is not properly metabolized. The research brings hope for millions of people who suffer with the chronic disease. Patients are dependent on injected insulin for life.
Medications are necessary for sugar to enter the body's cells and metabolize.
Doctors usually recommend diet, exercise and medications, including injected insulin, to control diabetes. But it is the work of a Duke researcher, using pig cells, which could hold a cure. Pigs make insulin very similar to that of humans. Some insulin in use today, called pork insulin, originates from swine. A new technique utilizing cells from the pancreatic tissue of pigs is offering the possible cure for diabetes.