NEW TECHNIQUE TO RESTORE BODY'S INSULIN PRODUCING ABILITY
There
is good news for patients suffering from type-one diabetes as they may soon be
able to do away with their daily insulin dose to manage their blood-sugar
levels.
Researchers have found that a peptide called caerulein can
convert existing cells in the pancreas into those cells destroyed in type-one
diabetes-insulin-producing beta cells.
“We have found a promising technique for type-one diabetics to
restore the body’s ability to produce insulin,” said Fred Levine, a professor
at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in the US.
“By introducing caerulein to the pancreas, we were able to
generate new beta cells – the cells that produce insulin,” Levine added.
The study first examined how mice in which almost all beta cells
were destroyed – similar to humans with type-one diabetes – responded to
injections of caerulein.
In those mice, but not in
normal mice, they found that caerulein caused existing alpha cells in the
pancreas to differentiate into insulin-producing beta cells.
The research team then examined human pancreatic tissue from
type-one diabetics, finding
strong
evidence that the same process induced by caerulein also occurred in the
pancreases of those individuals.
Caerulein is a peptide originally discovered in the skin of
Australian Blue Mountains tree frogs.
It stimulates gastric, biliary, and pancreatic secretions, and
has been used in humans as a diagnostic tool in pancreatic diseases.
An estimated over 300 million people worldwide are living with
type-one diabetes.
The study appeared in the journal Cell Death and Disease.
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