A groundbreaking cell transplant technique has given a 61-year-old man a new lease of life by curing him off diabetes.
Richard Lane of Bromley, Kent, is the first person in the UK to be completely cured of the disease.
He now no longer needs insulin injections and feels like a 'totally different person'.
The King's College Hospital team said the breakthrough was hugely exciting for people with type 1 diabetes.
Although, the technique is not perfect with many patients still requiring top-up insulin it is nevertheless a massive boost for diabetes sufferers.
Lane, who has had diabetes for over 30 years, had his first transplant in September, followed by a second transplant a month later and the third at the end of January.
His life is no free of low blood sugar attack which often left him unconsciousness.
He now has to take drugs to stop his body rejecting the transplanted cells.
Two other UK patients who have been treated with the procedure still need small doses of insulin.
Canadian researchers were the first to demonstrate that people with type 1 diabetes could remain free of insulin injections after the treatment was complete.
In diabetes, blood sugar is too high because the body cannot use it properly.
This is because the hormone insulin which enables the body to control blood sugar levels is either not produced by islet cells in the pancreas or does not work properly.
For the transplant, healthy islet cells are taken from donor pancreases and injected into the patient's liver.
Once there, they develop their own blood supply and begin to produce insulin.
In the UK, 250,000 people have type 1 diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes. The condition usually appears before the age of 40.
Steps are already being undertaken to combat a shortage of donors.
Japanese researchers recently said they successfully transplanted islet cells from a living donor.
Scientists have also been looking at ways to make more of the cells required using stem cells.
Andrew Zilouf
First Man Cured of Diabetes
A transplant cures a man of type 1 diabetes.
