Harvard scientists learn how to grow insulin-producing cells on an industrial scale

    The first type of diabetes can be cured thanks to a method discovered by scientists from Harvard University to grow insulin-producing cells from stem cells in the quantities necessary for transplantation into the human pancreas.


    Two weeks after the transplant: Beta cells from human stem cells form islet clusters and produce insulin, curing experimental mice.This

    is the result of twenty-three years of work by Harvard professor Douglas Melton, who has been looking for a cure since his son Sam was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes . Beta-

    derived stem cellsproducing insulin, are now being tested on animals, including primates. According to the professor, they still produce insulin a few months after the transplant.


    An illustration from the journal Cell

    Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which pancreatic beta cells stop producing the hormone insulin that regulates blood glucose. An increase in blood glucose causes great harm to the organs of the body. If Melton's cell transplantation works, it can save millions of people from the need for daily injections of insulin and the associated risks. “We are now at one preclinical step from the finish line,” says Professor Melton. Answering a question about his son’s reaction, he said: “I think, like all children, he assumed that if his father said he would do it, he would this. ”


    Douglas Melton

    Type 1 diabetes affects only about 10% of diabetes patients, but it is the most common type of diabetes among children.

    In a commentary to the Telegraph newspaper , Chris Manson, a professor at London University College, called this discovery perhaps one of the key medical breakthroughs: “If scalability t hnologii confirmed and clinical trials, and manufacturing, it is a game changer in the treatment dibeta the same as at the time antibiotics - in the fight against bacterial infections. "

    Rockefeller University professor in New York, Elaine Fuchs, described this autopsy as “it is one of the most important achievements in the field of stem cells to date. For decades, scientists have been looking for the opportunity to produce pancreatic beta cells suitable for transplantation and subsequent production of insulin. "

    An article on development is published in the journal Cell .

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