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Researchers Make Gains with Stem Cells
Researchers Make Gains with Stem Cells -- Posted by Gumbo on 03-06-05 06:57
Researchers Make Gains with Stem Cells
University of Miami researchers may have discovered a shortcut for turning
embryonic stem cells into the insulin-producing cells destroyed by Type-1
diabetes.
The technique, described in a paper published in the March issue of the
journal Diabetes, could ultimately contribute to a cure for the disease by
creating a limitless supply of the insulin-producing cells known as islets.
But researchers cautioned that day is far off.
The new study "gives you a really great system," said Arun Sharma, a
scientist at the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard University. "But there
are still challenges."
Doctors have begun to treat Type-1 diabetes by transplanting islets from
organ donors into diabetes patients, alleviating the patients' need to
inject themselves with insulin. But donors will always be vastly outnumbered
by potential recipients.
"We need to find alternative sources of islets," said Juan
Domínguez-Bendala, the University of Miami scientist who authored the paper.
One strategy being pursued by Bendala and his colleagues at the Diabetes
Research Institute: Use embryonic stem cells to create a limitless supply of
islets for transplantation.
Embryonic stem cells are widely studied because they can propagate
themselves indefinitely and can turn into any cell in the body. (They are
also mired in controversy -- because they come from human embryos, some
ethicists believe it is wrong to study them, and the Bush administration has
put limits on federally funded stem cell research.)
Left to their own devices, stem cells will turn into a wide variety of cells
and tissues; if the cells are to prove useful, scientists must learn how to
coax the cells in particular directions. In Bendala's case, that means
figuring out how to turn stem cells into islets.
For a stem cell to become an islet, the cell must create a series of
proteins in a specific sequence. In the last decade, scientists have
developed a good understanding of the sequence. But they have not yet
learned to prompt the cell to create the essential proteins.
The new study bypassed this problem by using a technique that delivers the
essential proteins directly to the cell. The stem cells treated with this
technique "massively turned into islet cells," Bendala said.
The study was done with mouse stem cells. The next step is to try similar
experiments on human cells -- something already underway in Bendala's lab.
"This technology is a first step that allows us to think we are closer today
than we were yesterday," Bendala said.
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