The finding from the study, published in Science, and the engineered cells were found to outperform normal pancreatic cells relating to their ability to regulate blood sugar in mice.
Imagine an end insulin injections. Well, a new therapy that has recently been tested on mice and involves implanting a capsule of genetically engineered cells under the skin might eliminate the need for the needle treatment diabetics must endure. If proven safe and effective for humans, diabetics could be provided implants that would make traditional insulin treatment.
Researchers have incorporated a simple approach that uses artificial beta cells from human kidney cells. Like their natural model, the artificial cells act as both sugar sensors and insulin producers. Diabetics, scientists speculate, would require three implants a year to successfully manage the blood sugar disease.
Researchers have managed to produce artificial beta cells from human kidney cells that like their organic counterparts function as both sugar sensors and insulin producers. Diabetic mice treated with the genetically modified cells were found to have normal blood sugar levels for several weeks following the implants. If proven safe for humans, the treatment would be relevant for all type 1 diabetes patients, as well as those cases of type 2 diabetes that require insulin injections.
Martin Fussenegger, lead researcher at the ETH university in Zurich Switzerland, noted: “By 2040, every tenth human on the planet will suffer from some kind of diabetes, that’s dramatic. We should be able to do a lot better than people measuring their glucose.”
If proven safe and effective for humans the implants would replace injections, which do not perfectly control blood sugar levels, and as a consequence lead to long-term complications that include eye problems, neuropathy and heart damage.
The finding from the study, published in Science, and the engineered cells were found to outperform normal pancreatic cells relating to their ability to regulate blood sugar in mice.
Mice that had lost all their insulin-producing pancreatic cells were implanted with teabag-like, porous, capsule that guard the human cells from the mouse immune system, but allowed insulin to slowly release.
Although there is no clear date when these artificial beta cells will reach the market. Human trials are costly and often last many years. But if our cells clear all the hurdles, ETH researchers insist, they could reach the market within 10 years.
