Good news for mice

I read about this a few days ago, it is interesting. Using mice is just a first step, whether or not it ever gets past larger animal trials is another thing. Let alone works for humans, but it is interesting.

I can't read that webpage due to ad/tracker blocking, but a cursory look at other sources doesn't reveal what type of diabetes this is intended to treat? One presumes autoimmune, but it seems a bit ambiguous. Interesting nevertheless, but I dare say another one of those miracle cures that is always "5-10" years away.

@Jim Lahey just for you Jim!

A massive breakthrough in the search for a cure for diabetes has been made by researchers who have successfully cured diabetes in mice for the first time using converted human cells to keep the disease at bay.

The human stem cell strategy functionally cured the disease in mice for at least nine months and in some cases up to a year, giving hope to the millions of human patients around the world.

The converted cells allowed the mice to rapidly produce enough insulin to break down high blood sugar causing diabetes. Tests saw their sugar levels return to a normal, safe level in as little as two weeks.

Around 400 million people globally have diabetes, for which there is currently no cure. People can manage the disease through diet, lifestyle changes and medication.

Scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis revealed on February 24 that they had successfully converted human stem cells into insulin-producing cells and demonstrated in mice infused with the converted cells that they can act as a rapid cure to diabetes.

The research transformed other types of cells into beta pancreatic cells which produce the insulin hormone needed by the body to break up blood sugar.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

'These mice had very severe diabetes with blood sugar readings of more than 500 milligrams per deciliter of blood — levels that could be fatal for a person — and when we gave the mice the insulin-secreting cells, within two weeks their blood glucose levels had returned to normal and stayed that way for many months,' said principal investigator Dr Jeffrey R. Millman, an assistant professor of medicine and of biomedical engineering at Washington University.

The researchers initially discovered how to convert the cells several years ago but with certain flaws. After conversion, about a quarter of the cells were not insulin-producing but other kinds of beta cells such as liver cells.

While not harmful to the mice, these cells went no way to combat the high blood sugar problem or diabetes, making the overall process ineffective.

'A common problem when you're trying to transform a human stem cell into an insulin-producing beta cell — or a neuron or a heart cell —is that you also produce other cells that you don't want,' Millman explained in a statement from the university.

'In the case of beta cells, we might get other types of pancreas cells or liver cells.

'The more off-target cells you get, the less therapeutically relevant cells you have,' he added.

'You need about a billion beta cells to cure a person of diabetes. But if a quarter of the cells you make are actually liver cells or other pancreas cells, instead of needing a billion cells, you'll need 1.25 billion cells. It makes curing the disease 25% more difficult.'

@Tophat1900 thanks for that. The reporting I am seeing seems to be almost deliberately avoiding discriminating between resistant and deficient diabetes. One article elsewhere implies a usefulness for type 1 and type 2, as though they are the same thing. This minor detail seems pretty important, since obviously this isn't going to do anything to fix pathological insulin resistance.

Potentially promising for those [mice] with autoimmune or other pancreatic insufficiency, though

I think it all depends which type of D the researchers had induced in the mice in the first place. There are strains of mice bred for insulin resistance (they are usually rather fat) whereas T1 can be induced.

doubt VERY much that the study was done on both T1and T2 mice at the same time.

poor mice

Another article badly written by the DM unfortunately. It refers to 400 million people with diabetes so it would appear to be aimed at type 2s and type 1s. I wonder what the effect on type 2s would be if forced to produce more insulin? I love this bit as well and I quote, 'Patients can use insulin injections or change their lifestyle to lessen the disease risks'. Who knows who this bit is aimed at.

It seems counterintuitive to use cells from another species to cure an auroimmune disease. I would have expected the presence of alien cells would have been akin to a virus invasion. Note that the trial ended after a year, so claiming cure sounds a bit strong so suspect they have not actually solved the autoimmune problems.

Beta cells have been reprogrammed to be beta cells for some time in the lab, but turning them on in vivo is not so simple, as the article mentions. This is an essential step towards replacing lost beta cells, but there is a long way still to go before human trials can begin. I think the beta cells will need to be harvested from the patient and then grown in vitro to reduce the rejection rate. Think using another host to grow these cells in future would require immuno suppression treatment. Similar problem to using pig hearts in humans - possible but lifelong anti rejection treatment needed,

Jim Lahey said:

I can't read that webpage due to ad/tracker blocking, but a cursory look at other sources doesn't reveal what type of diabetes this is intended to treat? One presumes autoimmune, but it seems a bit ambiguous. Interesting nevertheless, but I dare say another one of those miracle cures that is always "5-10" years away.

Click to expand...

Use Chrome and go incognito. Links with restrictions on ad-blockers work then. I don't see any ads that way either. YMMV

Jim Lahey said:

@Tophat1900 thanks for that. The reporting I am seeing seems to be almost deliberately avoiding discriminating between resistant and deficient diabetes. One article elsewhere implies a usefulness for type 1 and type 2, as though they are the same thing. This minor detail seems pretty important, since obviously this isn't going to do anything to fix pathological insulin resistance.

Potentially promising for those [mice] with autoimmune or other pancreatic insufficiency, though

Click to expand...

Yes, that would be me.

It's not much of an article for obvious reasons, but there is some positive to come out of the actual work being done. Whether or not it ever transpires past the trials? Who knows, but there is a bit of potential in there to be able achieve that result. For now, all we can do really is ramble on a bit.

Woohoo....at last, good news for all the diabetic mice out there. They have limited places to put a CGM and or pump.
AND yet ANOTHER cure in the not to distant future! In 49 years of T1D that must be around 40 (probably more) I have been told that are just around the corner. Forgive me if I don't hold my breath