It was accomplished what will one day be called one of the greatest achievements in stem cell therapy.
Harvard scientists managed to create billions of mature and fully functional insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas from embryonic stem cells of the mammal.
Researchers described their results in the journal Cell.
They described how the beta cells from the stem cells were transplanted into the kidney of a mouse with diabetes mellitus. Two weeks later, the animal had no signs of diabetes.
The study was a real breakthrough and hope for all people suffering from diabetes, especially type 1 diabetes, who need constant insulin injections because of insufficient insulin production in the body.
"Now we are at a distance from the preclinical research from the finish line," Professor Douglas Melton, head of the Department of Stem Cells and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University, comments enthusiastically about the results..
Preclinical research will need to demonstrate a safe way to stop the immune system from reacting to transplanting pancreatic beta cells. The effectiveness of this procedure is practically proven. If it is confirmed and its safety, it will open a new era in the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.
Work on protection of beta cells.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune cells destroy the beta cells of its own pancreas. Without insulin, the body is not able to control the glucose content in the blood, so it rises significantly, gradually leading to damage to nerves, vessels and other tissues.
For the success of its unique technology, scientists will need to add to the cells another component that will stop the response of the recipient's immune system to insulin-producing cells. After transplantation, scientists transplant about 150 million cells, and this population should be preserved.
To perform a complex task, scientists from Harvard collaborated with their colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Together, they developed an implant that protects new beta cells from damage by the recipient's immune system.
Professor Melton says that this device is being tested today and it has already demonstrated the ability to protect the graft from the immune system for several months after the operation in mice.
"These cells are still protected and continue to produce insulin," says Professor Melton.
Beta cells from stem cells have all the signs of mature functional cells.
While other researchers in different ways received beta cells from stem cells, they lacked the characteristics that are characteristic of mature and functional cells. Professor Melton and his team say that their new method of stem cell differentiation allows to receive billions of normal insulin-producing cells that have all the markers of mature cells.
Received by Harvard scientists beta cells:.
• Have all biomarkers of mature beta cells.
• Contain calcium channels that respond to glucose.
• Accumulate insulin in secretory granules.
• Provide adequate doses of insulin in response to stimulation.
"Moreover, these cells secrete human insulin into the blood of mice shortly after transplantation, depending on the level of glucose, and transplantation of these cells quickly copes with hyperglycemia in diabetic mice," says Melton.
Now, researchers are testing insulin-producing cells in other animal models, including primates.
American and British experts call this work a real revolution.
Professor Elaine Fuchs of Rockefeller University, a member of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, who did not take part in this project, says that this is one of the most important recent achievements.
Dr. Fuchs said: "I join many people in the world who applaud my colleagues for this remarkable achievement. For decades, researchers have tried to create human beta cells that could be grown and made to produce insulin. Melton and his team overcame all obstacles along the way and opened the doors to creating a perfect new way of treating type 1 diabetes mellitus ".
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