Diabetes is a very common disease that affects millions of people around the world. People with diabetes are at risk of developing high blood sugar levels, which can damage their organs and lead to several dangerous complications.
There are two forms of diabetes:
- Type 1 Diabetes (insulin dependent diabetes mellitus)
In this version of diabetes, the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin, a hormone that helps the glucose in the blood move into cells, where it is used as energy. Without enough insulin, blood glucose levels become elevated. The root cause of this form of diabetes is an immune system disorder that destroys pancreatic ‘beta cells’, which are responsible for producing insulin. - Type 2 Diabetes (non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus)
With Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas produces enough insulin, but the body’s cells become resistant to its presence and cannot absorb glucose efficiently. This is called insulin resistance.
There is currently no cure for either form of diabetes and people with the condition must use a combination of diet, exercise, medication and insulin therapy.
However, thanks to the work of a group of researchers from University of California, we may soon have a cure for Type 1 diabetes. In a world-first, the researchers have developed a technique for making insulin-producing cells from stem cells.
Stem cells are powerful cells which have the capacity to change into other types of cells. All of the cells in our body come from stem cells through a process called differentiation, which is how a stem cell matures into a specific cell type.
Researchers have discovered how to transform stem cells into other types of cells in a laboratory with the use of chemical signals. They have successfully used stem cells to create many types of cells including eye, lung, and heart cells.
The American research team are the first to successfully create pancreatic Beta cells using stem cells. Previous attempts had failed because the stem cells failed to mature into full-grown Beta cells for some unknown reason.
The researchers overcame this issue by growing the stem cells in islet-like clusters of cells, which made the cells believe they were in a real human pancreas. This allowed the cells to fully mature. Further trials will be required, but researchers may have found a cure for type 1 diabetes using stem cells.
Source: Scientists convert stem cells into insulin-producing cells
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