Skin cells manage to cure type 1 diabetes in mice

Although at the moment only the possibility of being able to cure type 1 diabetes, the least frequent but with many complications, is a huge step for regenerative medicine.The solution would go through skin cells to convent in insulin -producing pancreatic cells, a desire sought for a long time but now seems possible thanks to a team of researchers from the Gladstone Institute, in the US.

Type 1 diabetes occurs because insulin-producing cells-beta cells-, located in the pancreas, are unable to fulfill their process, or do it inefficiently.And insulin is essential for organs to absorb the necessary sugar to produce energy.This forces patients to depend on the treatment with insulin for life.Until now many researchers have tried to obtain cells to replace this lack, but the results have not been good.

However, the consolidation of regenerative medicine, cell therapy, etc.It has modified the panorama in the treatment of type 1 diabetes. The possibility of reprogramming cells or obtaining new cells that are able to produce the necessary insulin is no longer a mere desire.In the work published in "Cell Stem Cell" scientists have managed to produce the necessary amounts of beta cells insulin producers to transplant a patient, something that until now had been impossible."The power of regenerative medicine is that it can provide us with an unlimited source of beta cells of insulin functional that can be transplanted in the patient," says S. Ding, who because previous attempts had not achieved success proposed an approach. "something different ».

One of the main challenges for the generation of large amounts of beta cells is that they have a limited regenerative capacity;That is, once they mature it is difficult to do more.So the researchers decided to go back a little more in the cell cycle.First they obtained skin cells, called fibroblasts, laboratory mice.Next, through the treatment of fibroblasts with an "cocktail" of molecules and reprogramming factors, they transformed cells into cells similar to those of the endoderm, a type of cell that is in an initial embryonic phase, and that matures generating themain organs, including the pancreas.

When reprogramming the cells with another "cocktail" of molecules and reprogramming factors, the researchers transformed the endoderm cells into cells that mimic the pancreas cells, which they called PPLC.And, according to another of the researchers, Ke li «the initial objective was to see if we could get such PPLC cells to mature and become cells that, like beta cells, respond to the correct chemical signals and, most importantly, they secrete insulin.And our initial experiments, carried out in the laboratory, revealed that.

For Miguel Ángel Barajas, of the Cell Therapy Laboratory of the University Clinic of Navarra (CUN), the work is "very interesting" because its approach is different: "Instead of going to a very embryonic phase, it goes back only a bit in theEmbryonic development but, at the same time that the cells are reprogrammed, differentiation begins.In doing so at once -reprogram and differentiate -the system is more efficient ».And, in addition, it is the first time that this is done in pancreas, although it had been achieved in heart cells.

live animals

The next step was to demonstrate it in living animals, so PPLC cells transplanted into modified mice to have hyperglycemia -high glucose levels -a key indicator of diabetes.A week ofTransplant already saw that the glucose levels of animals descended to normal levels."And when we remove the transplanted cells we saw an immediate glucose peak, which reveals a direct relationship between the PPLC transplant and the reduction of hyperglycemia," says Li.

But the confirmation of his work came at 8 weeks: the PPLC of had manufactured beta cells of completely functional insulin secretors.This step, says Barajas, is what makes the study different.«Many works achieve similar results in the work, but this time they have demonstrated it live.Diabetic mice recovered their normal glucose levels ».And in addition, the Spanish researcher highlights, he has shown that they not only manufacture beta cells, but the "rest of the cell lineage of pancretic islets."

The authors of the work consider that "the results only highlight the power of the molecules in cell reprogramming and are a proof of concept for a future personalized therapeutic approach in patients," Ding acknowledges.The next step is to transfer the results to the clinic in humans.

That is the only "but" of research for Barajas, "although surely they will be in it."They must also solve the fact that they have used “almost embryonic cells, which is easier to work.His challenge is not only to do it in humans, but to use adult fibroblasts ».

Regenerative Medicine

The profusion of articles in recent weeks related to advances in the field of regenerative medicine, especially the one published in "Nature" on a new easier method to generate pluripotent stem cells capable of differentiating themselves in any type of cells, have excited toResearchers in this field.

Miguel Ángel Barajas, of the Cell Therapy Laboratory of the University Clinic of Navarra (CUN), believes that if these last essays of the Riken Institute, and others in this same direction, they reproduce in other laboratories, there will be a given «giant stepin the field of regenerative medicine ».

In 2013, Minicerebros and Minirriñones have already been manufactured in the laboratory.Reprogrammed IPS cells have also been used to obeist heart, muscle, neuronal or to regenerate bone cells.Regenerative medicine is already here.