- Lab-grown cells are designed to take on the role of the pancreas, experts say
- The new technique has been described by researchers as a ‘game-changer’
A revolutionary new treatment for type 1 diabetes could be on the horizon, involving growing insulin-producing cells in a laboratory and transplanting them into a patient’s arm.
Currently, those with the condition – of which there are around 400,000 in Britain – must regularly monitor blood sugar levels and inject insulin if necessary.
But researchers believe a new procedure could free patients from the need to constantly manage their condition.
Their lab-grown ‘islet’ cells are designed to sit just under the skin and allow the arm to fulfill the role of the pancreas – the organ that normally produces insulin but does not work properly in type 1 diabetes.
A clinical trial is currently underway in which islet cells from human donors are being transplanted into the forearms of eight people with the condition.
Those with the type of diabetes – of which there are around 400,000 in Britain – need to regularly monitor blood sugar levels and inject insulin when necessary, but this new technology could change that
In recent decades, a small number of people have received donated insulin-producing cells that are injected into the portal vein, which delivers them to the liver.
But there are supply issues and the new technology – described by experts as a ‘potential game changer’ – would be much less invasive.
However, much larger-scale testing would be needed before it could be rolled out.
It is being developed by Minutia, a biotech company working with technology developed at the University of California, San Francisco and Duke University.
The long-term goal is to be able to coax stem cells, which have the potential to turn into almost any other type of cell, into becoming insulin-producing “islets” that can be transplanted into the arm.
The company is also developing a type of ‘nanosensor’ that goes into the transplanted cells and could provide an early warning if the transplant is rejected by a recipient.
Katy Digovich, CEO and co-founder of Minutia, said: ‘We know that it is now possible to reverse type 1 diabetes with stem cell-derived insulin-producing cells, and we also know that we can transplant insulin-producing cells into the forearm and they survive.
‘We’re going to do everything we can to make it work. But this is hard.’
Dr. Digovich was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of six, but her decision to explore the condition came after spending time in Africa with the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
During her time there, people were often surprised to learn that she—a six-foot-tall, athletic former college basketball player—suffered from type 1 diabetes, a diagnosis that often translates into stunted growth in many countries in Africa. amputations and complications. high mortality.
“Eventually I got really angry and the switch went off,” she said. ‘If I had been born there, I would be dead. That really hit close to home.
“I took stock of my career and threw myself into the diabetes world to create the type of transplant I wanted in my own body.”
Dr. Matthias Hebrok, from the Technical University of Munich and co-founder of Minutia, said transplanting islets from the pancreas of a deceased person is an established treatment that works well – but there is a chronic shortage of donors.
“I think stem cell-derived cells are a revolution,” he said. ‘Of course we are still in the early stages… but we can generate as many cells as we want, to treat a huge number of patients.’
The work was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference, held this week in Denver.