Posted by James on February 27, 2003 at 11:10:21:
The animal kingdom rejoices again, another 10 year "cure" window offered. Gene-Treated Liver Cells Could Help Diabetics LONDON (Reuters Health) - British researchers have genetically engineered liver cells to have some of the characteristics of pancreas cells and they say this may one day lead to new treatments for diabetics who depend on insulin injections. During experiments carried out at the University of Bath, liver cells grown in the laboratory were made to acquire certain characteristics of pancreas cells, and some produced insulin. Reporting their findings in the journal Current Biology, the scientists suggest they could lead to a treatment for diabetes within 10 years, providing human trials prove successful. "The results from these experiments have been very encouraging," research leader Professor Jonathan Slack, from the department of biology and biochemistry, said in a news release. "This is the first step in the development of what could ultimately provide a cure for people suffering from diabetes, but there is a lot more work to do." In type 1 diabetes, the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the body's own insulin-producing cells, meaning patients must take daily injections of a synthetic version of the hormone for life. The latest experiments offer the hope of an alternative treatment using just one injection. Researchers used a process called transdifferentiation to convert liver cells to pancreas cells by introducing a gene called Pdx1 into the liver cells. The Bath team developed a "super active" version of the gene, which is known to be essential for development of the pancreas, that was effective on cells in addition to pancreas cells. When the Pdx1 gene was added to human liver cancer cells, the cells acquired a pancreatic character and some started to produce insulin. Separate tests involving tadpole liver cells revealed they could be altered in the same way. And once they were formed, the "pancreatic" cells did not appear to revert back to liver cells. "Other people have tried to carry out this type of experiment but they didn't use the right type of gene to make it work," Slack said. The team has yet to show that conversion of liver cells to pancreas cells works in a live adult mammal.
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By Pat Hagan
SOURCE: Current Biology 2003;13:105-115.