Human Beta-cell Line Offers Hope For Type 1 Diabetes Breakthrough
- Date:
- October 9, 2005
- Source:
- Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
- Summary:
- Scientists at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, with international colleagues, succeed in creating reversibly immortalized human beta-cells, with eye toward establishing universal cells for treatment of type 1 diabetes.
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NORTH CHICAGO, ILL. (September 25, 2005) -- Transplantation ofinsulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells shows great promise as atreatment for type 1 diabetes, but development of this therapy has beenhampered by a severe shortage of donor beta-cells, which are obtainedfrom decreased human donors. In research published in the October issueof Nature Biotechnology, Ji-Won Yoon, PhD, Professor of Pathology andDirector of the Rosalind Franklin Comprehensive Diabetes Center atRosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Dr. NaoyaKobayashi (Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine andDentistry), and their international colleagues describe a "reversiblyimmortalized" cell line that can supply large amounts ofinsulin-producing human beta-cells. Ultimately, a cell line of thissort may provide an abundant source of beta-cells for transplantationand an alternative to beta-cells from cadavers.
Type 1 diabetes results from the loss of insulin-producingbeta-cells in the pancreas. Because the supply of beta-cells fromcadavers is insufficient to meet the needs of 99% of diabetic patients,alternative sources of beta-cells would be highly desirable. Previousefforts to coax mature human beta-cells to survive and replicate in thelaboratory have not succeeded, however, because the cells died or losttheir ability to produce insulin in response to sugar stimulation.
Dr. Yoon, Dr. Kobayashi and colleagues got around this problemby manipulating and analyzing large numbers of human beta-cells. First,they added genes that extend cell lifespan to human beta-cells andlooked for the rare cells that did not form tumors and that expressedinsulin or other beta-cell proteins. Out of more than 250 cells linesscreened, only one passed this test. This cell line was allowed toreplicate to produce large numbers of cells. Then, the genes thatextend cell lifespan were removed to ensure that the cells would notform tumors and to promote beta-cell behavior. The resulting cellsproduced about 40% as much insulin as normal beta-cells andsuccessfully controlled blood sugar levels in diabetic mice for morethan 30 weeks.
While further research is needed before these cells can beconsidered for testing in humans, plans to develop a "universalbeta-cell line" are well underway, and Dr. Yoon anticipates that humanclinical trials might begin as soon as three to five years from now.The discovery of this technique to create a reversibly immortalizedbeta-cell line represents a significant leap in the quest to develop aneffective and universal treatment for type 1 diabetes; it is estimatedthat 18.2 million Americans suffer from diabetes. The long-term impactof this discovery, and those that will follow, will undoubtedly beprofound and far-reaching.
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