A small group of patients with Type 1 diabetes have ditched daily insulin shots after being transplanted with stem cells from their own bodies, bringing hopes for patients suffering the disease, a new study reported Wednesday.

    BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A small group of patients with Type 1 diabetes have ditched daily insulin shots after being transplanted with stem cells from their own bodies, bringing hopes for patients suffering the disease, a new study reported Wednesday.

    The promising study reported in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association involved 15 patients, ages 14-31, with newly diagnosed diabetes. Though too early to call it a cure, the transplants enables 14 patients to live without insulin injections from one to 35 months.

    In a statement, lead author Dr. Julio C. Voltarelli, from the Regional Blood Center in Ribeiro Preto, Brazil, called the results "very encouraging."

    "It's the first time in the history of Type 1 diabetes where people have gone with no treatment whatsoever... with normal blood sugars," said co-author Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University's medical school in Chicago.

    The scientists took stem cells from patients' blood, gave them immune-suppressing drugs and returned the stem cells to their bodies to rebuild their immune systems.

    The results suggest that "the immune system of people with Type 1 diabetes can be retrained or reset, at least for a period of time," and that it may be possible to re-grow insulin-producing cells, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation said in a statement.

    In type 1 diabetes, a person's immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Preserving beta cells is a key concept in the management of Type 1 diabetes and in the prevention of its related complications.

    (Agencies)