Hope for diabetics: Scientists have manipulated cells in the pancreas so that they turn into insulin-producing cells.
Melbourne – Australian scientists have a new approach to treating diabetes discovered – and thus opened the door to potential, completely new treatment options. Using drugs normally given to patients with rare cancers, they reprogrammed the cells in the pancreas to respond the hormone insulin produced and distributed. This discovery could mean that one day diabetics will no longer need multiple insulin injections daily.
Medical breakthrough: Cancer drug allows diabetic cells to regenerate and produce insulin
The researchers at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne used two existing cancer drugs to manipulate cells in the pancreas so that they transform into insulin-producing beta cells. The result of the study, which took place in January in the specialist journal Nature published provides a completely novel approach to the treatment of type 1 diabetes, which often presents with early warning signs.
Typically, the beta cells of the pancreas synthesize, store and release insulin. In people with type 1diabetes However, these are destroyed by the immune system so that they are no longer able to produce the vital hormone. Those affected therefore rely on regular insulin injections. Although insulin therapy helps control blood sugar levels, it cannot prevent, stop, or reverse the destruction of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
Hope for type 1 diabetics: cancer drugs stimulate insulin production in the cell again
For many years, research has focused on developing new therapies that stimulate the growth and function of beta cells in order to restore insulin production in type 1 diabetics. Now the Australian researchers are finally reporting a breakthrough. They managed to regenerate damaged pancreatic cells so that they can produce insulin and respond functionally to blood sugar levels.
“We view this regenerative approach as an important advance toward clinical development,” said Sam El-Osta, lead author of the study. “So far, the regeneration process has been random and unconfirmed; more importantly, the epigenetic mechanisms that control such regeneration in humans remain poorly understood.”
According to laboratory findings: Researchers want to pursue a new treatment approach for diabetes
The research team worked with pancreas cells from donors with type 1 diabetes. After “treating” the donated pancr
eas samples with known cancer drugs (GSK 126 and Tazemetostat), they changed toward a beta-like cell identity. After 48 hours of stimulation with the drugs, the reprogrammed cells produced insulin in response to the administration of simple sugars (glucose).
The drugs are still far from being suitable for trials with people with type 1 diabetes. But the lab results are a promising first step toward new beta cell treatments. As a next step, the scientists plan to investigate the therapy in a preclinical model.
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