Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes Mellitus: Recent Progress and Hurdles

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a devastating metabolic syndrome. Currently, parenteral exogenous insulin is the only therapy available around the world to treat type 1 DM. However, it does not tightly regulate blood glucose levels that ultimately lead to long-term complications. The development of pancreatic transplantation gives some hope in the radical cure of diabetes. A limited number of donors and host immune rejection are two major drawbacks associated with pancreatic transplantation. Stem cells are distinctive cells that can differentiate into any other type of specialized cells. Embryonic stem cells have been studied extensively and proved successful in producing beta cells. The numerous kinds of stem cells, including embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, and adult stem cells, prove to be among the notable candidates to treat DM. However, all stem cell therapies have their own limitations. This review article focuses on the progress and limitations in stem cell research to treat DM.