Rat Cells May Lead to Diabetes Cure
Rat Cells May Lead to Diabetes Cure
Experimental Type 1 Diabetes Treatment Cured Animals of Disease
Sept. 8, 2003 -- An experimental new treatment for type 1 diabetes that uses early embryonic cells from rats may one day help humans control their own blood sugar levels and gain freedom from daily insulin shots.
Early results show that these cells, when transplanted, developed into insulin-producing cells and cured adult rats with type 1 diabetes of their disease for up to 15 weeks.
People with type 1 diabetes cannot produce enough insulin to meet their body's needs. Daily insulin shots to supplement this lack of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are a way of life for the approximately 1 million Americans with the disease.
Type 1 diabetes can also be treated by transplanting a whole human pancreas, although the need for long-term therapy to avoid rejection of the organ makes this procedure difficult. Isolated insulin-producing cells, called islet cells, can also be transplanted into a person with the disease. But researchers say the supply of human islet cells is too limited to meet the demand and transplanted islet cells only last a short time.
As an alternative to these treatments for type 1 diabetes, researchers developed a new approach using cells from rats.
The treatment involves transplanting early embryonic pancreatic tissue into the abdomens of adult rats with type 1 diabetes. These embryonic cells divide rapidly after transplantation (unlike adult islet cells) and function to produce small amounts of insulin-producing tissue.
"The transplanted tissue developed into a totally novel organ," says researcher Marc R. Hammerman, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, in a news release. "It's a pancreas that produces insulin but lacks the components that secrete digestive enzymes."
Preliminary results of the treatment, published in the September-October issue of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs Journal, showed that two weeks after transplantation the embryonic cells had grown and begun making insulin. By week five, the transplanted tissue had produced enough insulin to maintain normal blood sugar levels in the diabetic rats.
The rats remained essentially cured of their disease for the duration of the 15-week experiment.
Researchers say those results are promising but much more study is needed before this experimental type 1 diabetes treatment can be tested in humans.
Rat Cells May Lead to Diabetes Cure
Experimental Type 1 Diabetes Treatment Cured Animals of Disease
Sept. 8, 2003 -- An experimental new treatment for type 1 diabetes that uses early embryonic cells from rats may one day help humans control their own blood sugar levels and gain freedom from daily insulin shots.
Early results show that these cells, when transplanted, developed into insulin-producing cells and cured adult rats with type 1 diabetes of their disease for up to 15 weeks.
People with type 1 diabetes cannot produce enough insulin to meet their body's needs. Daily insulin shots to supplement this lack of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are a way of life for the approximately 1 million Americans with the disease.
Type 1 diabetes can also be treated by transplanting a whole human pancreas, although the need for long-term therapy to avoid rejection of the organ makes this procedure difficult. Isolated insulin-producing cells, called islet cells, can also be transplanted into a person with the disease. But researchers say the supply of human islet cells is too limited to meet the demand and transplanted islet cells only last a short time.
Possible Alternative for Type 1 Diabetes Treatment
As an alternative to these treatments for type 1 diabetes, researchers developed a new approach using cells from rats.
The treatment involves transplanting early embryonic pancreatic tissue into the abdomens of adult rats with type 1 diabetes. These embryonic cells divide rapidly after transplantation (unlike adult islet cells) and function to produce small amounts of insulin-producing tissue.
"The transplanted tissue developed into a totally novel organ," says researcher Marc R. Hammerman, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, in a news release. "It's a pancreas that produces insulin but lacks the components that secrete digestive enzymes."
Preliminary results of the treatment, published in the September-October issue of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs Journal, showed that two weeks after transplantation the embryonic cells had grown and begun making insulin. By week five, the transplanted tissue had produced enough insulin to maintain normal blood sugar levels in the diabetic rats.
The rats remained essentially cured of their disease for the duration of the 15-week experiment.
Researchers say those results are promising but much more study is needed before this experimental type 1 diabetes treatment can be tested in humans.
