2008 Woodie Awards
Advances in Transplant-Free Diabetes Treatment
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Issue date: 4/10/06 Section: Features
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Washington University researchers have reaffirmed a simple approach to curing Type 1 diabetes in mice: stop the immune system before it kills off all the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
There is a window of time, after the onset of diabetes but before all the cells are destroyed, in which the mouse pancreas can be rescued, said Dr. Emil Unanue, a Washington University immunologist and author of the study, published Friday in the journal Science. "You have a window of time in humans, too," he said.
The study advances a transplant-free approach to curing Type 1 diabetes with a simple, short and cheap regimen of drugs.
But the researchers, who also added adult stem cells from the spleen into the mouse pancreas, did not find spleen cells morphing into a new source of new pancreatic cells, as was claimed by Harvard University researchers three years ago.
Nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As many as 3 million of those cases are Type 1 diabetes, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation says. Type 1 diabetes is an early-onset or juvenile disease where T-cells - the hitmen of the immune system - attack pancreatic cells that make insulin, a hormone necessary to control blood sugar levels.
In 2003, Dr. Denise Faustman, a Harvard University researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, published work saying that a combination of two substances - a drug and a protein contributed by adult stem cells from the spleen - allowed 22 of 25 mice to be cured of diabetes for at least half a year.
She also reported the signature of the spleen cells in regenerated pancreatic cell clusters. Some people, including Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who opposes embryonic stem cell work, cited Faustman's work as an example of the promise of adult stem cell work.
But Unanue and two other independent university labs say they can not find the signature of regenerated spleen stem cells. They also had less success in curing the mice: In Unanue's lab, only four of 22 mice were cured. He says controlling the immune system merely lets a few remaining pancreatic cells get a fingerhold to start producing insulin again.
There is a window of time, after the onset of diabetes but before all the cells are destroyed, in which the mouse pancreas can be rescued, said Dr. Emil Unanue, a Washington University immunologist and author of the study, published Friday in the journal Science. "You have a window of time in humans, too," he said.
The study advances a transplant-free approach to curing Type 1 diabetes with a simple, short and cheap regimen of drugs.
But the researchers, who also added adult stem cells from the spleen into the mouse pancreas, did not find spleen cells morphing into a new source of new pancreatic cells, as was claimed by Harvard University researchers three years ago.
Nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As many as 3 million of those cases are Type 1 diabetes, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation says. Type 1 diabetes is an early-onset or juvenile disease where T-cells - the hitmen of the immune system - attack pancreatic cells that make insulin, a hormone necessary to control blood sugar levels.
In 2003, Dr. Denise Faustman, a Harvard University researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, published work saying that a combination of two substances - a drug and a protein contributed by adult stem cells from the spleen - allowed 22 of 25 mice to be cured of diabetes for at least half a year.
She also reported the signature of the spleen cells in regenerated pancreatic cell clusters. Some people, including Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who opposes embryonic stem cell work, cited Faustman's work as an example of the promise of adult stem cell work.
But Unanue and two other independent university labs say they can not find the signature of regenerated spleen stem cells. They also had less success in curing the mice: In Unanue's lab, only four of 22 mice were cured. He says controlling the immune system merely lets a few remaining pancreatic cells get a fingerhold to start producing insulin again.