Beta cells from an intimate source
The lack of insulin will be filled by the testes
Nadezhda Markina, Infox.ruScientists have obtained insulin-producing cells from sperm progenitor cells.
And without genetic intervention. The precursors worked wonderfully without it and synthesized insulin in the body of diabetic mice.
Insulin is produced by cells of the pancreatic islets. But with type I diabetes, their number decreases sharply. Now it has become clear that they can be grown from other patient cells – from testicular stem cells. These are the results presented by scientists from the Georgetown University Medical Center at the annual conference of the American Society of Cell Biology in Philadelphia.
The researchers cultured human spermatogonies (testicular stem cells, sperm precursors) taken from deceased donors in the laboratory. Like other stem cells of specialized tissues, in the body they divide and differentiate into strictly defined cells – into spermatozoa. But in the laboratory, scientists have found ways to radically change the fate of such cells: either to give them unlimited possibilities of differentiation – pluripotence, or to force them to turn into cells of other tissues without the pluripotence stage.
Usually, to reprogram cells, they change the genetic program by introducing genes active in embryonic stem cells. But, as scientists emphasize, spermatogonia did not need genetic modification. "When we extracted the cells from the testes and began to cultivate them, they formed three germ leaves within a few weeks, that is, they became pluripotent stem cells," says G. Ian Gallicano, associate professor of the Department of Cell Biology.
From one gram of testicular tissue, scientists obtained about a million cells, which were given the properties of beta cells of the pancreas with the help of specific processing. In a message published on the website of the Georgetown University Medical Center (“Grow Your Own Transplant” May be Possible for Men with Type 1 Diabetes – VM), the authors do not describe exactly how they processed the cells. Probably, it will be possible to get acquainted with the methodology of work when a scientific publication appears. In the meantime, the authors point out that the cells showed biological markers characteristic of normal beta cells of pancreatic islets. And most importantly, they produced insulin. When they were implanted into the body of mice with insulin deficiency (a model of human diabetes), the cells began to work. And the mice had their blood glucose levels normalized within a week.
The ability to receive insulin-producing cells from the patient's own cells will eliminate the need for their transplantation from a donor.
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14.12.2010