There is good news for diabetic patients. They will no longer
need to inject insulin – thanks to a treatment involving the use
of insulin-producing cells which Harvard University scientists
discovered how to make.
The cure could, therefore, be imminent as the scientists have
produced large volumes of laboratory-grown pancreatic cells
required for one-off transplantation in patients.
The breakthrough has been hailed and compared to the
invention of antibiotics. It involved identifying how to
efficiently turn both stem cell types into beta cells.
The cells, millions of which were manufactured, produced
insulin, responded to glucose, worked on mice for many
months and will soon be used to treat humans.
The discovery is the result of 23 years of research by
Harvard Professor Doug Melton, whose study of type 1
diabetes was prompted by his son having the condition as a
six-month-old. His daughter received the same diagnoses.
The cells could be used to treat all patients rather than each
person needing their own genetically matched treatment.
The cells tested on mice were placed in a porous capsule to
protect them from attacks by the body’s immune system, while
allowing the insulin to diffuse out.
This means the cells could be produced on an industrial scale
and used on patients without possible immune rejection, while
the capsule could be replaced if it stopped working.
A report on the work is published in the October 10 edition of
the journal Cell. Online reports quoted Prof Melton as saying:
“It was gratifying to know that we could do something that we
always thought was possible, but many people felt it wouldn’t
work. We are now just one pre-clinical step away from the
finish line.”
The Telegraph quoted Professor of Regenerative Medicine,
University College London Chris Mason as saying the
discovery was “potentially a major medical breakthrough”.
“If this scalable technology is proven to work in both the clinic
and in the manufacturing facility, the impact on the treatment
of diabetes will be a medical game-changer on a par with
antibiotics and bacterial infections,” he said.
Head of Institute of Integrative Biology at the University of
Liverpool, Prof Anthony Hollander, added: “This is very
exciting fundamental research that solves a major roadblock
in the development of a stem cell treatment for diabetes.
“The study provides a very elegant and convincing method for
generating functional insulin-producing cells in large
numbers.”
Prof Mark Dunne of Manchester University said: “Overall this
is an important advance for the field of diabetes and people
with Type 1 diabetes.”
Source: The Nation
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