Treating type 1 diabetes and some cases of type 2 diabetes has long required painful and frequent insulin injections or a mechanical insulin pump for insulin infusion. But researchers from the University of North Carolina and NC State have now developed what could be a much more patient-friendly option: artificial cells that automatically release insulin into the bloodstream when glucose levels rise.
These "artificial beta
cells" (ABCs) mimic the functions of the body's natural glucose-controllers, the insulin-secreting beta cells of the pancreas. The loss or dysfunction of these cells causes type 1
diabetes and many cases of type 2 diabetes. The idea is that the AβCs could be subcutaneously inserted into patients, which would be replaced every few days, or by a painless and disposable skin patch.
As the researchers report in
Nature Chemical Biology, a single injection of the ABCs into diabetic mice lacking beta cells quickly normalized the animals' blood glucose levels and kept those levels normal for up to five days.