In a new study, researchers have found a way to turn human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. When these insulin-producing cells were transplanted into mice causing acute diabetes, their condition was quickly cured.
Biomedical engineer Jeffrey R. Millman from the University of Washington said: "The mice involved in the experiment were very diabetic with a glycemic index of more than 500 milligrams per decilitre of blood. The level could be fatal for one. "When we fed the mice insulin cells, within two weeks, their blood sugar levels returned to normal and remained that way for months."
Versatile stem cells are basically vacant cells, indistinguishable from their ability to grow into other types of cells that exist throughout the body. Harnessing that potential, in the context of diabetes, means that researchers can devise ways to regulate stem cells to become insulin-producing cells that diabetics lack, helping them control their intake. High blood sugar and healthier.
Scientists have been studying how to do this for years. Report some of the increased success in animal models as our understanding of the processes behind manipulation impacts stem cells increases.
Millman’s lab is also very busy. In 2016, they devised a way to produce insulin secreting cells derived from type 1 diabetics with glucose response function. A few years later, they learned how to increase the level of insulin secretion in pancreatic beta cells derived from stem cells.
In the new study, the researchers addressed another challenge of reducing the number of off-target cells created in these processes.
"A common problem when you are trying to convert human stem cells into insulin-producing beta cells or neurons or heart cells is that you also produce other cells you don’t want. In In the case of beta cells, we can get other types of pancreatic or hepatocytes, "Millman said.
The off-target cells aren’t harmful, but the researchers also don’t work for purposes like glucose control, which limits the remedial effects of stem cell treatments. , since you work with cells that are less involved in therapy.
However, a new technique now seems to be able to keep cell differentiation on target. In the new study, the team discovered that the factors that promote stem cells towards becoming pancreatic cells are related to the state of the cell, a supporting structure within the cells. The cell acts like a skeleton, made up of microfibrils of various protein fibers.
The authors explain in their report: "We found that manipulation of cell biomaterial interactions and the state of actin cells altered the time of expression of the endocrine transcription factor. and the ability of pancreatic cells to differentiate into beta cells derived from stem cells. ”
In other words, we can ensure more efficient production of insulin-producing cells by controlling actin cells and the ability to do so well for the future of stem cell treatments.
"We were able to create more beta cells and those cells performed better in mice, some of which were still cured for more than a year," Millman explained.
The researchers added that similar cell manipulations also showed the potential to better control differentiation of other types of cells, including the liver, esophagus, stomach, and intestinal cells. If so, this technique could enhance stem cell treatments for other types of pathologies, not just diabetes.
However, the new method so far has only been tested on animals. As the researchers emphasize, we are still far from being able to heal people with this kind of experimental treatment. That means the results are certainly very promising and can point to a future where we can do exactly that.
