Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Converting skin cells to pancreatic cells may help protect against diabetes

lab microscope istock

In a step forward for diabetes treatment, scientists successfully converted human skin cells into pancreatic cells that created insulin and protected mice from developing diabetes.

Researchers at the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) say their findings open the door for disease modeling, drug screening and making personalized cell therapy a step closer for diabetes patients.

The study, published January 6 in Nature Communications, involved reprogramming skin cells into early developmental cells, then adding molecules so the endoderm progenitor cells divided rapidly. Two more steps progressed the cells into fully-functional pancreatic beta cells.

Most importantly, researchers noted, the mice were protected from developing diabetes in an animal model of the disease, as the cells had the ability to produce insulin in response to changes in glucose levels.

View entire article at Fox News Health website here.

 

from Health and Nutrition Today http://ift.tt/1JIRhfs



from roundsroundup http://ift.tt/1Pq0m9Q

No comments:

Post a Comment