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Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that it is possible to use human stem cells to functionally cure diabetes in mice in just a couple of weeks. The treatment kept the disease at bay for at least nine months and up to more than a year in some mice.
The work, published in Nature Biotechnology, builds on previous research by the team. They focused on the use of human pluripotent stem cells, cells that can take the form of any type of human cell. They used the cells to generate pancreatic beta cells, which are known to secrete insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar level. People with diabetes cannot produce sufficient insulin to control their blood sugar level.
The mice were given severe diabetes using a substance known as streptozotocin. The human cells were then implanted in the animals, where they successfully began to control the rodents' blood sugar levels, functionally curing the disease.
“These mice had very severe diabetes with blood sugar readings of more than 500 milligrams per deciliter of blood – levels that could be fatal for a person – and when we gave the mice the insulin-secreting cells, within two weeks their blood glucose levels had returned to normal and stayed that way for many months,” principal investigator Dr Jeffrey R. Millman, an assistant professor of medicine and of biomedical engineering, said in a statement.
www.iflscience.com
The work, published in Nature Biotechnology, builds on previous research by the team. They focused on the use of human pluripotent stem cells, cells that can take the form of any type of human cell. They used the cells to generate pancreatic beta cells, which are known to secrete insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar level. People with diabetes cannot produce sufficient insulin to control their blood sugar level.
The mice were given severe diabetes using a substance known as streptozotocin. The human cells were then implanted in the animals, where they successfully began to control the rodents' blood sugar levels, functionally curing the disease.
“These mice had very severe diabetes with blood sugar readings of more than 500 milligrams per deciliter of blood – levels that could be fatal for a person – and when we gave the mice the insulin-secreting cells, within two weeks their blood glucose levels had returned to normal and stayed that way for many months,” principal investigator Dr Jeffrey R. Millman, an assistant professor of medicine and of biomedical engineering, said in a statement.
Human Stem Cells Successfully Used To Cure Diabetes In Mice
Human Stem Cells Successfully Used To Cure Diabetes In Mice
www.iflscience.com
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