An important step towards the cure of type 1 diabetes has occurred when trying a technique that allows beta cells (insulin producers) from the attack of the immune system.
The formula of the researchers of the Koch Institute of the MIT and the Harvard Institute of stem cells, in the US, was successfully tested in laboratory mice, in which the disease was extinguished for six months.
This discovery has the potential to provide the diabetic people of a new pancreas protected from the immune system, which will allow blood sugar to be controlled without medication.At least this is the dream, ”explained Dr. Daniel Anderson, Professor of Biology at MIT.
With the new technique, in which stem cells that recreate the function of beta cells are used, this system will no longer be necessary if successful in humans.The study showed that after the implantation in mice, the cells immediately began to produce insulin in response to blood glucose levels and were able to maintain it.
"When beta cells are normally working, they are part of an exquisitely refined system, precisely providing the amount of insulin that the body needs," said Harvard Gazette.
According to this medium, this bioengineering work by professors Daniel Anderson and Robert Langer brings the promise of a possible cure for type 1 diabetes at a short distance.
“This discovery has the potential to provide the diabetic people of a new pancreas protected from the immune system, which will allow blood sugar to be controlled without medication.At least this is the dream, ”explained Dr. Daniel Anderson, Professor of Biology at MIT.
"We are very happy with this new technology and we are working hard to advance to the clinical (phase)," he added.
The work was published Monday in the magazines Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology, and represent almost eight years of work.
Researchers at the University of Illinois, from the Boston Children's Hospital and the University of Massachusetts also participated in the research.
