http://www.nltimes.nl/2015/06/05/leiden-researcher-developing-diabetes-cure/
This sounds really promising. Let's hope farmacy industry will not buy it off the market..
Full article:
Dutch scientists are working on a method that could cure type 1 diabetes through restoring insulin production.
Prof. Dr. B. Roep, a leading international diabetes researcher connected to the Leiden University Medical Center, expects that this method could in the near future significantly improve or even completely cure this autoimmune disease, even in people who have been suffering from it for years. The Leiden researchers have found that patients with diabetes still have intact “beta cells”, which in principle should be able to produce insulin again.
“Insulin injections, which many patients (also with type-2 diabetes) do, is actually no more than fighting symptoms. We therefore want to directly intervene in the restart of the disrupted insulin production”, Roep said to the Telegraaf.
Diabetes is a growing problem all over the world, but also in the Netherlands. In November last year, Statistics Netherlands reported that
4.5 percent of the Dutch population has diabetes, compared to 2.5 percent in 2002.
I think your summary article (which in all honesty says nothing about how or anything) as actually taken from this announcement that came out 27 May in this one:
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G Marchioli, L van Gurp, P P van Krieken, D Stamatialis, M Engelse, C A van Blitterswijk, M B J Karperien, E de Koning, J Alblas, L Moroni, A A van Apeldoorn.
Fabrication of three-dimensional bioplotted hydrogel scaffolds for islets of Langerhans transplantation.
Biofabrication, 2015; 7 (2): 025009 DOI:
10.1088/1758-5090/7/2/025009
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Text follows:
Researchers from the Netherlands have explored how 3D printing can be used to help treat type 1 diabetes in results presented in IOP Publishing's journal
Biofabrication.
The 3D printing technique, known as bioplotting, has taken researchers one step closer to being able to help patients who experience severe hypoglycaemic events, commonly known as 'hypos'- a problem that affects about a third of people with type 1 diabetes according to Diabetes UK.
The paper describes how clusters of specialized cells responsible for the production of insulin and glucagon in the pancreas, called islets of Langerhans, have successfully been 3D printed into a scaffold. It is hoped that the scaffolds can be transplanted into patients with type 1 diabetes to help regulate blood sugar levels and avoid 'hypos'.
In their study, the group of researchers sought to increase the success of islet transplantation by creating bioengineered scaffolds to help deliver the transplanted islet cells into patients, ensuring the cells are protected and fully functioning when placed at the donor site.
The islets were embedded into three-dimensional scaffolds made from an alginate/gelatin mixture with a cross-linked structure and showed full functionality once extracted, meaning that the scaffolds could function as a potential delivery vehicle in future transplantations. The islet cells were included in the liquid hydrogel mixture during printing to create the porous three-dimensional scaffold.
When selecting the material for the scaffold, the researchers had to strike a balance between a liquid mixture that had a high enough viscosity for a strong scaffold to be 3D printed, and a mixture that would not compromise the functionality of the cells when transplanted.
The porous structure of the scaffolds was selected over a bulk material so that it could efficiently facilitate the exchange of glucose and insulin. At the same time, the scaffold was designed to offer protection to the islet cells from the body's immune system, which would recognise the foreign cells and begin to attack them.
It is for this particular reason that current islet transplantation patients need to undergo a lifelong immunosuppressive therapy to avoid rejection of the transplanted donor tissue.
Co-author of the study Dr A A van Apeldoorn, from the University of Twente, said: "Our results showed that once the islet cells were retrieved from the alginate/gelatin scaffolds in the lab they were able to produce insulin and respond to glucose in the same way as non-printed islet cells, indicating that the procedure had not affected their viability or function at all.
"The macroporous scaffolds also ensured that the islet cells would not migrate uncontrollably through the body once transplanted into the donor site.
"If we are to improve the success of this treatment for type 1 diabetes, we need to create an implant in which islets are embedded, or encapsulated, from a material that allows for very efficient oxygen and nutrient supply, and quick exchange of glucose and insulin, while keeping the host cells out.
"Our future research will look further into recreating an optimal islet microenvironment to provide the donor islets with the best transplantation start possible."
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So all in all 'just' a new delivery method to improve placement of donor islet cells (of which we know there never will be enough of to cure all diabetics on earth). Not mentioned either in the full research article is the perfusion success rate (oxygen and nutrition support of transplanted cells), which has been the weak link and reason why islet transplants so far fail miserably after just a few weeks/months after implant. Islet cell survival rates over time is therefore critical. If this scaffold can protect so no immunosuppressive drugs are needed, then I would enjoy to see it tested asap using e.g. porcine beta-islets, as supplies are plenty and the insulin we know from the past works great in humans. I would even be proud to change my username to PigMan if that would work!