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Stem Cells Increase Insulin
Researchers at the NCRR-funded Adult Mesenchymal Cell Resource at the Center for Gene Therapy in Tulane University have successfully used adult human stem cells to increase insulin production in a mouse model of diabetes. The work was published in the November 14, 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas cannot make enough insulin to help process blood glucose into energy. In this study, the researchers injected human multipotent stromal cells (hMSCs)—cells that have the potential to become different types of cells in the body—derived from human bone marrow into the left cardiac ventricles of immunodeficient mice. The human cells did not appear to differentiate into insulin-producing cells. Rather, the hMSCs migrated to the pancreas and seemed to induce the development of endogenous mouse cells that produce insulin. The levels of insulin in the treated mice were found to be twice that of control diabetic mice.
Scientists believe these versatile hMSCs could be used in the future for treating high blood glucose in diabetic human patients. The cells can be obtained from a patient’s bone marrow and grown in culture for later transplant back into the patient.
