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Source: University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Date: May 25, 2007
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070525105802.htm
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Excerpts:
Science Daily — In a fundamental discovery that someday
may help cure type 1 diabetes by allowing people to grow
their own insulin-producing cells for a damaged or defective
pancreas, medical researchers here have re****ted that they
have engineered adult stem cells derived from human um-
bilical cord blood to produce insulin.
The researchers announced their laboratory finding, which
caps nearly four years of research, in the June 2007 issue
of the medical journal Cell Proliferation, posted online this
week.
Their paper calls it "the first demonstration that human um-
bilical cord blood-derived stem cells can be engineered"
to synthesize insulin.
"This discovery tells us that we have the potential to pro-
duce insulin from adult stem cells to help people with
diabetes," said Dr. Randall J. Urban ... "It doesn't prove
that we're going to be able to do this in people -- it's just
the first step up the rung of the ladder."
The lead author of the paper ... said that by working with
adult stem cells rather than embryonic stem cells, doc-
tors practicing so-called regenerative medicine even-
tually might be able to extract stem cells from an indivi-
dual's blood, then grow them in the laboratory to large
numbers and tweak them so that they are directed to
create a needed organ.
In this way, he said, physicians might avoid the usual
pitfall involved in transplanting cells or organs from
other people -- organ rejection, which requires organ
recipients to take immune-suppressing drugs for the
rest of their lives.
Huge numbers of stem cells are thought to be re-
quired to create new organs. Researchers might
remove thousands of donor cells from an individual
and grow them in the laboratory into billions of cells
.... Then, for a person with type 1 diabetes, researchers
might engineer these cells to become islets of Langer-
hans, the cellular m***** that produce the hormone
insulin ...
"But we're a long way from that," Denner warned.
Denner said this research ... used human umbilical
cord blood because it is an especially rich source
of fresh adult stem cells and is easily available from
donors undergoing Caesarian section deliveries ...
"However," he added, "embryonic stem cell research
was absolutely necessary to teach us how to do this."
Embryonic stem cells have been engineered to pro-
duce cardiac, neural, blood, lung and liver progenitor
cells that perform many of the functions needed to
help replace cells and tissues injured by many
diseases, the paper notes.
Among the insights into cell and tissue engineering
gained from work with embryonic stem cells, it adds,
are those "relevant to the engineering of functional
equivalents of pancreatic, islet-like, glucose-respon-
sive, insulin-producing cells to treat diabetes."
....
Note: This story has been adapted from a news
release issued by University of Texas Medical
Branch at Galveston.
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