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Human skin cells can be reprogrammed to produce the hormone insulin , which could one day avail patient role better check their diabetes .
However , the raw cells , which researchers described Jan. 6 in thejournal Nature Communications , are still in the early phases of growth . Scientists have tested these cells in lab dishes but have not placed them into the human torso to see if they can give rise insulin in that setting . to boot , the researcher take down , the cells are not wholly identical to the human pancreatic cell that normally produce insulin in the body .
What ’s more , although the cells could potentially help the great unwashed with type 2 diabetes someday , their current figure would not help people with type 1diabetes , which is an autoimmune disorder , said Matthias Hebrok , director of the University of California , San Francisco Diabetes Center . [ 5 diet That Fight Diseases ]
Insulin and bread
In the pancreas , cubicle yell genus Beta cells bring forth insulin , the hormone that lowers blood loot levels by spurring cells throughout the organic structure to take up glucose from the blood . In masses with type 1 diabetes , the immune system destroys these genus Beta cells , leave the body with almost no power to give rise insulin .
In type 2 diabetes , pancreatic beta cellular telephone malfunction , producing less insulin . at the same time , other cells in the body developinsulin resistance , intend they need high and eminent stage of insulin to take up sugar in the blood .
Many people with diabetes take insulin or insulin analog to keep their blood sugar stage in check . However , insulin injections take time reach out the cells , so there is a lag metre after the injection during which descent sugar can still come up to prejudicious degree . By contrast , the pancreatic genus Beta prison cell usually respond quickly and efficiently to blood sugar rise , Hebrok said . Pancreatic cellular telephone also release another hormone , bid glucagon , which can quickly raiseblood simoleons levelsif they duck too low , he added .
To better mimicpancreascells ' ability to govern roue sugar , Hebrok and his fellow worker took skin cell from newborns ( the research worker used cells from male babies ' foreskin that otherwise may have been discarded after circumcision procedures ) , and reprogrammed those cell into pancreatic beta cells by combining the cells with molecules that direct the cells to turn back to an early stage of cell development , then separate and multiply .
Essentially , the investigator turned back the clock on the jail cell , just enough so that they resembled cells in the endoderm , the layer of tissue in a developing fetus from which most of the internal organs , including the pancreas , form .
When implanted into mice , the reprogrammed pancreas cells keep the mice from developing diabetes , the researchers tell .
The findings raise the promise that citizenry with type 2 diabetes could one day use their own reprogrammed skin cells to moderate their blood lucre . On their own , the cells would not avail those with case 1 diabetes , because the resistant system would likely attack and destroy the reprogrammed cells , Hebrok said .
However , other investigator are exercise on method to " veil " the cells from the immune system , " giving them a cloak of invisibility like Harry Potter has , " Hebrok told Live Science .
Limitations of Modern cubicle
As with any reprogrammed cell , there is always the risk that some of the cell were not reprogrammed correctly . And with any cells that have had their filaree turned back , there is a risk that they can proliferate unchecked , take to Crab , Hebrok said . However , beta cellular phone do n’t reproduce well , so the risk of infection of this happening is low-spirited than with sure other types of such cell , he add together .
If the cubicle did finally make it into man , they would probably first be encapsulated in a self - contained machine , Hebrok said .
" That serves two purposes : One is to protect the cadre you put in against the immune organization , and the other is to protect the soundbox from the cubicle themselves , " in case they do have tumor - forming properties , he added .
