Diabetes is a kind of disease that affects millions of people and causes more deaths than the number of people who die from breast cancer and AIDS together. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States today, with nearly 200,000 deaths reported each year. The American Diabetes Association estimates that nearly 16 million people, 5.9 percent of the United States population, currently have diabetes. In China, there are already 40 million people who have diabetes, with an increase of one million people every year.

Diabetes is actually a group of diseases characterized by abnormally high level of the sugar glucose in the bloodstream. This excess glucose contributes to most of the complications of diabetes, which includes blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke, neuropathy, and limb amputations. Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile-onset diabetes, typically affects children and young adults. Diabetes develops when the body's immune system sees its own cells as foreign cells and attacks or destroys them. As a result, the islet cells of the pancreas, which normally produce insulin, are destroyed. In the absence of insulin, glucose cannot be processed by the cells and then it accumulates in the blood. Type 2 diabetes, also known as adult-onset diabetes, tends to affect older, sedentary, and overweight individuals with a family history of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body cannot use insulin effectively. This is called insulin resistance and the result is the same as type 1 diabetes—a build up of glucose in the blood.

There are currently no cures for diabetes. People with type 1 diabetes must uptake insulin several times a day and test their blood glucose concentration three to four times a day throughout their entire lives. Regular monitoring is important because patients who keep their blood glucose concentrations as close to normal as possible can significantly reduce many complications of diabetes, such as retinopathy (a disease of the small blood vessels of the eye which can lead to blindness) and the heart diseases which tend to develop over time. People with type 2 diabetes can often control their blood glucose concentrations through a combination of diet, exercise, and oral medication. Type 2 diabetes often progresses to the point where only insulin therapy can control blood glucose concentrations.

The progress made in stem cell research brings new hopes for diabetes patients. Research results showed that transplant stem cells or islet cells to the patients can improve insulin resistance, and the cure of diabetes. The current methods for treating diabetes with stem cells include bone marrow stem cell transplantation, hematopoeitic stem cell transplantation, embryo stem cell transplantation and cord blood stem cell transplantation.
We are cooperating with a research organization in USA to develop a kind of stem cell therapy for type 2 diabetes. The preclinical research showed that it can significantly improve the symptoms in animal models. It is expected to be an effective therapy for curing diabetes.