News 24 Treatment of diabetes in human cell mice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A US research team has been able to avoid the drawbacks of previous research that was trying to cure diabetes by converting stem cells produced by skin cells into beta cells that produce insulin, including dysfunction leads to diabetes.

The researchers explained that previous research on converting stem cells into insulin-producing beta cells had not worked, whether they produced a large amount of insulin or contained nothing, but new cells from of cells. Human skin and its mouse experience were more sensitive and secreted insulin that better matched glucose levels.

He described the research team led by Dr. Jeffrey R. Millman, assistant professor in biomedical engineering at the University of Washington, described the process of making new cells in a study published in the latest issue of the report periodic "Cell Reports", published Nov. 17, where the treatment of cells during the growth of different factors, (TGF-β) and better control of cell volume, which resulted in more efficient mature cells.

D. Melman, one of the scientists who participated in previous work that did not achieve the desired results, but the changes made by the team led by his research have allowed to obtain better results in experiments conducted on mice.

Leonardo Velazco Cruz, a researcher at Dr. Millman's lab and member of the research team, told Asharq Al-Awsat that "after the end of the stem cell-derived beta cell growth process, the researchers implanted them in mice with diabetes after suppressing immune cell systems so as not to reject human cells, and produced these inserted insulin levels cells that effectively control mouse blood sugar. "

Cruz believes that many logistical obstacles must be removed before moving on to this stage.

"The main obstacle is to protect the cells of the patient's immune system during its implantation.This requires looking for a way to encapsulate the cells.This encapsulation is a barrier for immune cells, while allowing the detection of glucose. and insulin secretion Alternatively, cell engineering genetically utilize gene editing tools such as Crysis to make the cells invisible to the patient's immune system. "

"This type of research is highly multidisciplinary and requires biologists, engineers, and physicians to work together to treat functional diabetes, and I'm optimistic that it will turn stem cells into an effective cell therapy for diabetes," she said. he declared.