The resurrection of beta cells
Dead pancreatic beta cells can be restored "at least three times"
LifeSciencesToday based on Inserm – Type 1 diabetes: regenerate our own insulin cells?Patrick Collombat, Director of Science at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, Inserm) and head of the research group at the Institut de Biologie Valrose in Nice, has published new data on type I diabetes.
Scientists have shown that there are cells in the pancreas of mice that can be transformed into insulin-producing beta cells, and this transformation can be carried out at any age. Moreover, all pancreatic beta cells can be restored several times and, thus, the consequences of chemically induced diabetes in mice can be eliminated repeatedly. Now scientists are faced with the task of proving that this method is applicable to the human body.
The work of Al-Hasani et al. Adult Duct-Lining Cells Can Reprogram into beta-like Cells Able to Counter Repeated Cycles of Toxin-Induced Diabetes is published in the journal Developmental Cell.
More than 30 million people worldwide suffer from type I diabetes, with its characteristic selective loss of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. Despite the successes of modern medicine, the life expectancy of patients with this disease is reduced by five to eight years. It is in this context that the Diabetes Genetics group is developing new approaches aimed at the regeneration of beta cells.
In 2009, in experiments on young mice, scientists at the Institute of Biology Valrose (Inserm/University of Sofia Antipolis (Universite de Nice Sophia-Antipolis)) it was possible to transform glucagon-producing alpha cells into beta cells. Now, in transgenic mice, they have described the mechanisms that lead to a change in cell identity. In particular, they showed that pancreatic duct cells can be continuously transformed into alpha and then beta cells - a process carried out at any age. This transformation is achieved by activating the Pax4 gene in alpha cells.
Fig. ibv.unice.frDue to the reactivation of developmental genes, this cascade of biomolecular events leads to the formation of completely new beta cells.
Throughout the process, alpha cells are formed, gradually acquiring the profile of beta cells. This means that the pancreas has an almost inexhaustible source of cells capable of producing insulin.
In experiments on mice with artificially induced type 1 diabetes, "we have also shown that with this mechanism, all beta cells of the pancreas can be restored at least three times; diabetes induced in mice in this way can be "cured" several times thanks to a new supply of functional insulin-producing beta-cells," explains Collomba.
Left: pancreas of the control mouse. Right: pancreas of a transgenic mouse showing massive regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells (colored pink) after chemically induced diabetes. (Photo: © Patrick Collombat/Inserm)"Now we are studying the possibility of inducing such regeneration with the help of pharmacological molecules.
Having received new data, in the coming years we will focus on the question of whether it is possible to make these processes work in the human body – a serious difficulty in creating more effective methods of treating patients with type 1 diabetes."
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru05.07.2013