>>Professor Elliott went to Russia in February to oversee research involving Pig Islet cells to cure Type I diabetes, which I assume is what you have. If his theory is right, a cure is literally around the corner.

>Do you really believe it's potentially that close? I have some friends with Type I, and I have to be careful, because my father wound up with it.

I was lucky enough to study Molecular Biology at University and, since being diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic a few years ago, have followed Islet Cell research closely.

The one that struck me as most exciting was research into using cells from your own spleen to clone islet cells and then reimplant. The research tries to avoid the moral/ethical issues of stem cell research by making use of spleen cells instead of stem cells. Apparently the cells taken from the spleen can be easily cloned/manipulated in the same way that islet cells can. By using your own spleen cells the issue of rejection is also avoided.

Tests in the US carried out (early last year or the year before) on mice proved succesful as far as I know. So I would think that a "cure" could very well be on the near horizon. Very possibly within the next 5-10 years.

What concerns me is that we still don't know exactly causes your own islet cells to die. My condition is hereditary insofar as my maternal grandmother and siblings were all Type 1 diabetics. I think that, in my case, it is a genetic predispoition rather than a dead cert. (My Sister has not been diagnosed - nor my Mother). If that is the case what is it that triggered my diabetes onset? I am reassured by my Specialist that it is not lifestyle (although I had my doubts at the time). I have read that it can actually be an over-reaction by your own immune system - so my immune system at some point kicked in and wiped out my islet cells; presumably whilst I was ill with something else.

The same can happen with chemotherapy/radiotherapy. I have also been told that glucose is toxic to islet cells and that the cells I have remaining will die quicker as long as my average blood glucose levels are high.

On a lighter note regarding aspirin: as a diabetic I receive free pharmaceutical prescriptions in the UK (on the NHS); if I wanted aspirin my doctor would prescribe it and I would get it for free!

Some links:
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Research/Islet_cell_transplantation/
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us/News_Landing_Page/2798/