- In type 1 diabetes the immune system attacks the cells in the pancreas that make insulin.
- Stem cells are studied to calm that attack and protect the insulin-making function still left.
- Trials show better C-peptide and HbA1c, working alongside your insulin.
If you live with type 1 diabetes, you already run a small laboratory in your pocket: a sensor, a pump or a pen, and a brain that does carb math before breakfast. The technology has improved enormously, and research now looks at the root of the problem.
That problem is the immune system. This post explains what goes wrong in type 1 diabetes, how umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells are studied to work on it, what the trials actually found, and what that means for you.
What is really going wrong in type 1?
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. For reasons that mix genes and environment, the immune system starts treating the beta cells of the pancreas, the ones that make insulin, as intruders. Immune cells called T cells lead the attack, and over time fewer and fewer beta cells are left.
That is different from type 2 diabetes, where the body still makes insulin but the tissues respond to it poorly. In type 1 the issue is supply, and insulin from outside becomes essential.
What do today’s treatments leave untouched?
Pumps, sensors and newer insulins make daily control safer and easier. But they replace the missing hormone; they do not change the immune attack itself. Many people still have some working beta cells, especially in the first years after diagnosis, and protecting what is left is a real goal.
How could stem cells help with an immune problem?
Think of the immune system in type 1 as a neighborhood watch that has started chasing the mail carrier. Mesenchymal stem cells don’t fire the watch; they are studied for calming it down. They release signals that may:
- Slow down the overactive T cells
- Encourage regulatory T cells, the immune system’s peacekeepers
- Lower inflammatory messengers around the pancreas
- Help protect the beta cells that are still working
Stem Cells Colombia uses only mesenchymal stem cells from Wharton’s jelly, the soft tissue of the umbilical cord. Reviews describe umbilical cord cells as more primitive and more strongly immunomodulatory than adult sources.
What have trials found in people?
A randomized trial in China gave Wharton’s jelly cells to 29 people with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes, alongside intensive insulin therapy. Over two years, HbA1c and C-peptide were better in the treated group than with placebo, with no reported side effects.
A 2025 umbrella review, pooling 17 systematic reviews and more than 8,000 patients with diabetes, found that in type 1 the therapy improved C-peptide and HbA1c. The safety profile was generally mild.
So what is the goal?
The aim is to protect the function you still have and make your control steadier, alongside your insulin. Results are usually better when some beta cell function remains, which is often the case earlier after diagnosis.
And one rule matters more than any other: never change or stop your insulin on your own, and never because of something you read online, including this post. Insulin is essential in type 1, so every change in dose is your doctor’s decision, for your safety.
- Ask your doctor for a recent C-peptide test; it tells you how much of your own insulin remains.
- Think of this as protecting the insulin your body still makes, alongside your treatment.
- Keep your endocrinologist in charge of your insulin, before and after any treatment.
Human evidence for mesenchymal stem cells in type 1 diabetes comes from randomized trials and pooled reviews. The most rigorous data show better C-peptide and HbA1c, most clearly in recent-onset disease, with a mild safety profile. The disease itself is well described as an immune attack, which is exactly what these cells are studied to calm. Research is growing, and larger, longer trials are building on these results.
- Long term effects of the implantation of Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells from the umbilical cord for newly-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus · Endocrine Journal, 2013
- Mesenchymal stem cell therapy for diabetes: An umbrella review · Tissue & Cell, 2025
- Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells: the new gold standard for mesenchymal stem cell-based therapies? · Tissue Engineering Part B: Reviews, 2014
- Type 1 diabetes · The Lancet, 2014
Questions
Will I be able to stop insulin?
The goal is to protect the insulin your body still makes and steady your control. In type 1 the studies showed better C-peptide and HbA1c. Insulin stays part of your care, and any change is your doctor’s decision.
Is it better soon after diagnosis?
Studies suggest results are better when some of your own insulin production remains, which is more common earlier. Your C-peptide helps show where you are.
What is checked first, for my safety?
Every IV protocol starts with cancer markers, for your safety. Everything else is reviewed case by case by your doctor.
How will you know if it helped?
By the same markers you started with, such as HbA1c, glucose and C-peptide, followed before and after. Changes build gradually over months.
Is it approved by the FDA?
Stem cell therapy is not approved by the FDA, but in Colombia it is legal.