Diabetes Treatment Studied in Mice
posted 03/19/03

NEW YORK (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research shows bone marrow may be the key to a treatment for diabetes. The research shows bone marrow cells can act like insulin-producing cells.

Diabetes is caused by an inadequate amount of insulin-producing cells called beta cells. In type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys these beta cells. In type 2 diabetes, beta cells are there but do not secrete enough insulin for one to have a normal metabolism. Type 2 diabetes is often associated with obesity.

Research in animals and some human trials has shown transplantation of beta cells can be beneficial in type 1 or type 2 diabetes. However, there are not enough human donors and the side effects from the drugs taken by transplantation patients are severe. Scientists from New York University have discovered other sources of beta cells in the body. Specifically, they have found bone marrow cells that could be induced to become beta cells.

Researchers conducted experiments that involved transplanting bone marrow cells from male donor mice to female donor mice. The cells were made so that they became fluorescent if the insulin gene was switched on. Scientists say they found male cells in the pancreas of the female mice that were fluorescent. This means these cells were functioning and behaving like beta cells.

In an accompanying commentary, a diabetes expert from Rockefeller University says the use of bone marrow as a source of pancreatic beta cells has the potential for future transplantations in diabetes patients.