Modified hepatocytes saved mice from diabetes

Denis Strigun, Naked Science

German scientists have learned how to reprogram hepatocytes into pancreatic cells as part of the therapy of type 1 diabetes mellitus. The results of the work are published in the journal Nature Communications (Stepwise reprogramming of liver cells to a pancreas progenitor state by the transcriptional regulator Tgif2).

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disease in which there is an increased level of glucose in the blood. This pathology differs from type 2 diabetes mellitus in that insulin deficiency in its case is absolute due to the death of pancreatic cells. There is no universal treatment for diabetes, and patients undergo substitution therapy throughout their lives.

One of the promising methods of diabetes treatment is transplantation of pancreatic cells from a healthy person. However, the recipient's body often perceives the transplanted cells as foreign and triggers an immune response, which is suppressed by immunosuppressants. At the same time, suppression of immunity may increase the risk of general morbidity in such patients.

In the new work, scientists from the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine and the Dresden Technical University used the cells of the patients themselves for transplantation. At the first stage, they sequenced the RNA of precursors of hepatocytes and pancreatic cells obtained from mouse embryos. The results showed that the progenitors of the cells of both organs are identical.

However, mature cells differed in the level of expression of the TGIF2 protein, which is encoded by the gene of the same name. The authors modeled type 1 diabetes mellitus in animals and extracted their hepatocytes. Then they increased the expression of TGIF2 in liver cells to the level of pancreatic cells and introduced modified cells into the body of individuals from the experimental group.

Subsequent analysis showed that the transplantation of modified cells reduced the blood glucose level of experimental mice. According to the authors, this indicates that reprogramming allowed hepatocytes to perform the function of pancreatic cells. Now scientists are working on adapting the technology to the human body and preparing for clinical trials.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  14.02.2017