A pancreatic islet in a pig. On the right, the same section an immunofluorescence stain against insulin indicates beta cells. [Image from Wikipedia, CC by 2.5]
7. Increasing insulin-secreting pancreatic cells could cure Type 1 diabetes
Researchers at the University of Texas have cured mice of Type 1 diabetes by increasing the types of pancreatic cells that secrete insulin.
“It worked perfectly,” Bruno Doiron, co-inventor of the method and assistant professor of medicine at UT Health, said in a press release. “We cured mice for one year without any side effects. But it’s a mouse model, so caution is needed. We want to bring this to large animals that are closer to humans in physiology of the endocrine system.”
The new therapy uses a technique known as gene transferring. A virus creates a carrier that introduces selected genes into the pancreas. Those genes then cause digestive enzymes and other cell types to make insulin.
“The pancreas has many other cell types besides beta cells, and our approach is to alter these cells so that they start to secrete insulin, but only in response to glucose [sugar],” said Ralph DeFronzo, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Diabetes at UT Health and co-inventor on the therapy. “This is basically just like beta cells.”
Beta cells, which create insulin, are destroyed by the immune system in patients with Type 1 diabetes. Other cell populations in the pancreas, however, are able to co-exist with the immune system.
“If a Type 1 diabetic has been living with these cells for 30, 40 or 50 years, and all we’re getting them to do is secrete insulin, we expect there to be no adverse immune response,” said DeFronzo.
The therapy was able to successfully regulate blood sugar in mice and could offer advances in insulin therapy.
“A major problem we have in the field of Type 1 diabetes is hypoglycemia (low blood sugar),” said Doiron. “The gene transfer we propose is remarkable because the altered cells match the characteristics of beta cells. Insulin is only released in response to glucose.”
