Then, to her astonishment, something else happened: the islet cells grew back, a development that went against everything known by scientists.

That way, they could later remove the kidney and take out the islet cells with it.

Then the scientists removed the kidneys containing the islet cells.

But whatever their origin, the islet cells were working normally, raising the question of whether the same treatment strategy would work in humans.

The treatment cannot cure diabetes because patients have already lost too many islet cells by the time of diagnosis.

And then the new islet cells would have to be protected from the underlying disease process that caused the diabetes in the first place.

A way around the donor shortage is to grow islet cells in the laboratory.

It has been observed in various cell types including islet cells.

Another American doctor has used fetal islet cells in treatment of diabetes patients.

But the question remains, Where did the new islet cells come from?