A review on the progress of stem cell therapy as a treatment for Diabetes mellitus

Abstract

The present scenario has shown that diabetes mellitus is a major health issue that affects people of nearly all ages. Stem cell therapy is one of the many medical treatment methods to prevent diabetes mellitus. A variety of stem cells are cultured to treat diabetes including embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells. Stem cells have been found from various sources which are embryos, blood, brain, bone marrow, muscle, liver, dental pulp, heart tissues, etc. Several transcription factors such as PDX-1, Ngn-3, Ptf-1a, MafA, Nkx6-1, etc. and key signaling pathways such as hedgehog, Notch, SOX9, Wnt, etc. contribute a lot to carry out stem cell treatment. Some errors of stem cell therapy have been found such as teratoma formation, risk of graft rejection that are being researched to overcome in the future. This review summarizes the progress of stem cell therapy as a treatment for diabetes mellitus.