Researchers Generate Stem Cell-derived Beta-cells from Patients with Diabetes

Diabetes researchers have succeeded in generating functional insulin-secreting beta cells from stem cells derived from patients with the type I form of the disease.

Investigators at the Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO, USA) and Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, USA) had reported previously that they had established scalable in vitro production of functional stem cell-derived beta-cells (SC-beta cells). Now, in a report published in the May 10, 2016, online edition of the journal Nature Communications, they described extending this approach to generate the first SC-beta cells from type I diabetic patients (T1D). Beta-cells are destroyed during T1D disease progression, which has made it difficult to extensively study them in the past.

The T1D SC-beta cells created in these studies where shown to express beta-cell markers, respond to glucose both in vitro and in vivo, prevent alloxan-induced diabetes in mice, and respond to anti-diabetic drugs. In addition, an in vitro disease model showed that the cells responded to different forms of beta-cell stress. Using these assays, the investigators found no major differences in T1D SC-beta cells compared with SC-beta cells derived from non-diabetic patients. Furthermore, there was no evidence of tumor development in mice that had received SC-beta cell transplants, even up to a year after the cells were implanted.

"There had been questions about whether we could make these cells from people with type I diabetes," said first author Dr. Jeffrey R. Millman, assistant professor of medicine and biomedical engineering at the Washington University School of Medicine. "Some scientists thought that because the tissue would be coming from diabetes patients, there might be defects to prevent us from helping the stem cells differentiate into beta cells. It turns out that is not the case. In theory, if we could replace the damaged cells in these individuals with new pancreatic beta cells - whose primary function is to store and release insulin to control blood glucose - patients with type I diabetes would not need insulin shots anymore. The cells we have manufactured sense the presence of glucose and secrete insulin in response. And beta cells do a much better job controlling blood sugar than diabetic patients can."

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Washington University School of Medicine
Harvard University