Stem cell hope for type 1 diabetes

The US Geron Corporation has reported pioneering steps towards a new treatment for type 1 diabetes, having successfully converted human embryonic stem cells (ES cells) into insulin-producing cells. The research, published in the journal Stem Cells, found that islet-like clusters of cells, similar to those normally found in a human pancreas, could be produced in a lab-dish from human ES cells.

'These studies show that the islet-like clusters contain the major cellular components of islets and are sensitive to glucose, the key sugar to which they must respond to be therapeutically beneficial', says Anish Majumdar, the senior author of the paper.

Two-eight per cent of the islet-like cells produced insulin when treated with excessive amounts of glucose and also expressed genes characteristic of the development of pancreatic cells in living organisms.

The Geron scientists are collaborating with researchers from the University of Alberta in Canada, who have developed a novel technique, known as the Edmonton Protocol, for transplanting pancreatic cells into patients with type 1 diabetes.

The technique was originally developed to treat type 1 diabetes by transplanting pancreatic cells from into patients from cadavers; a technique which proved successful but was not able to keep up with widespread demand. The researchers now hope to use the Edmonton Protocol to transplant the stem cell derived islet-like cells into patients affected by the condition.

'The Edmonton Protocol provides significant evidence that transplantation of primary islets can be used to successfully reduce the need for insulin in patients with type 1 diabetes', said Thomas Okarma, President and Chief Executive of Geron.

There is currently no cure for type 1 diabetes, which often affects young people but can develop in adulthood. The disease usually develops when, for unknown reasons, the body's own immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

Affected patients have to inject themselves daily with insulin to maintain normal glucose levels in their blood. If working copies of the islet-like cells could be successfully transplanted into these patients, they would no longer need to inject insulin, and the long-term side effects of the condition could be lessened.

The next step for Geron will be to perfect their methods, in order to be able to produce enough islet-like cells to meet widespread demand, and to test the treatment on animals affected by type 1 diabetes.

'Our major goal moving forward is to improve the purity, yield and maturational status of these cells to induce normoglycemia [normal blood glucose levels] in animal models of diabetes', says Madjumdar.

Geron presently own a worldwide exclusive commercial license giving them exclusive rights to all sales of insulin-secreting cells derived from human ES cells, as well as patents in the US and the UK covering production methods.