- They were successful for the first time to get pancreatic cells to produce insulin.
- Join the cells promoting inflammation of the pancreas with stem cells, the same person, as the latter lined organ.
- The process would take place in just 5 days, something that could produce big savings in economic costs due to reduced production time.
- Progress has been made by the Research Center in Tissue Engineering and Cell Therapy at the Maimonides University of Buenos Aires.
A team of Argentinean doctors has managed for the first time, through cell engineering cells of the pancreas to return to produce insulin, which is a key step for a future treatment for diabetes. You can also check the full Plexaderm reviews to know more about the product
From stem cells derived from fat, the researchers were able to create “islets of Langerhans”, a cluster of pancreatic cells, and reconstitute its production function for insulin, a hormone, and its complementary glucagon.
Precisely, diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot use it effectively.
The discovery was made by the research center in tissue engineering and cell therapies of the Maimonides University of Buenos Aires, dedicated to the reconstruction of organs to replace missing persons or supplement those who have any failure.
The director of the center, Gustavo Moviglia, explained that the importance of the attack lies mainly in that all these elements “can be obtained in the patient to treat, you can avoid the complications or rejection of transplants” currently conducted.
According to the World Health Organization, there are more than 347 million people with diabetes and in 2005 it was already expected that deaths from the disease will be doubled in 2030.
Discovery
The advance is based on the prior knowledge that a type of white blood cell, lymphocytes, retains certain characteristics of the layer that, when the human being is still an embryo, allows the development of different organs.
He was joined by the knowledge that an inflammatory process is directly related to tissue repair and regeneration.
The discovery was then to see that a cell with inflammatory activity during a repair of the organ causes if it is brought into contact with a mother cell that the latter will mature with the characteristics of this same organism.
“We put cells promoting pancreatic inflammation, all from a single individual, confronted with a group of stem cells, and they began to differentiate themselves in line with this organism,” said Moglia.
The next step was to find out if they could also get the same individual adult stem cells and both uses, were those of bone marrow and fat.
Finally, the researchers concluded that the latter respond better to treatment.
“In five days, cells had already become, and actively, they produced insulin,” said Moglia.
Mass treatment
According to the researcher, it is quickly essential to allow a massively in the future, since now, models of generation of structures of the organs have a duration of production between three and six weeks.
“They have to be in a very special environment, with very high costs.”While we save time saves in costs and gives us the possibility of these treatments can become massive,” he added.
So far, the only alternatives are treatments with cells from cadavers or pork and the patient must stay within a drug regimen not to reject the transplant.
But the islet, which is usually renewed by itself, cannot regenerate if it is thus protected with drugs and has a limited duration, the treatment, which even exceeds $ 300,000, United States of America must, therefore, repeat every two years, a problem that could be solved if it is generated with elements of the individual.
Among other improvements, an overview of these features would also help prevent diabetes-related diseases such as coronary artery disease, stroke, retinopathy, and diabetic nephropathy, among others.
However, although the method is still at a preclinical level and research is continuing, Moviglia is optimistic.
“We find that if we regulate the lives of animals with these islands that they suppressed the ability to produce insulin. We hope to confirm that it will not be rejected, “there is hope.