A team of Canadian researchers has bred genetically altered mice to have gut cells that produce insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar levels. Their findings, published in Science, raise the possibility of a new gene therapy treatment for diabetes.
The symptoms of diabetes are caused by faulty or absent pancreas cells, normally the only cells in the body that can produce insulin. People with diabetes cannot regulate their blood sugar levels and must have daily injections of insulin. The researchers, based at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, targeted the 'K-cells' - gut cells that normally produce a signal to alert the pancreas that a meal containing glucose is being absorbed. 'Our rationale was that if we could engineer these K-cells to produce insulin, it should be made and stored in the cells in advance, ready to be released promptly in response to ingestion of a meal' said team leader Timothy Kieffer.
The scientists now hope to develop a suitable delivery system to get the insulin gene into human K-cells, to pave the way for a gene therapy treatment for diabetes.
Another recent study has shown that gene therapy could one day be used instead of pacemakers in the treatment of irregular heartbeats. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore injected into pig hearts the gene for a protein that slows down electrical signals. The treatment calmed irregularities within a week, and the researchers now hope to try the technique in primates.
Sources and References
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Gene therapy holds promise for treatment of diabetes
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Setting the pace
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Diabetes gene therapy draws closer
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First gene therapy to calm pigs' out-of-sync hearts
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