Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 30 June (WA 281–2), how deriving stem cells from embryos created using the nuclei from a patient with type 1 diabetes could improve treatment of diabetes.
Answer
Embryonic stem cells derived from embryos created using the nuclei from a patient with type 1 diabetes could enable the derivation of insulin producing pancreatic cells (beta cells), which are a genetic match for the patient and can be transplanted back into the patient. This may offer a way of avoiding the current problems of rejection of the transplanted cells and the requirement to take anti-rejection medication in order to avoid this problem.