Diabetes Cure may be on the way using Human Cloning & Stem Cells

Diabetes may soon be able to be cured thanks to human cloning technology and stem cell research. The following is a quote from a website story by DiabetesHealth.com and below that is the abstract of the oringinal scientific article. - Simon Smith

"By reprogramming skin cells from people with type 1 diabetes, scientists have produced beta cells that secrete insulin response to changes in glucose levels. Dr. Douglas Melton and his colleagues at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute started by using the skin cells to generate induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Once they had iPS cells, the researchers manipulated them into developing into pancreatic islet (beta) cells."  - http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2009/09/19/6367/diabetes-in-a-dish-steps-toward-a-cure/?isComment=1

Generation of pluripotent stem cells from patients with type 1 diabetes

1. René Maehr^a,
2. Shuibing Chen^a,
3. Melinda Snitow^a,
4. Thomas Ludwig^b,
5. Lisa Yagasaki^a,
6. Robin Goland^c,
7. Rudolph L. Leibel^c and
8. Douglas A. Melton^a,¹

+ Author Affiliations

1. ^aDepartment of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, 7 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138; and
2. ^bDepartment of Pathology and Cell Biology, and
3. ^cDivision of Molecular Genetics and Naomi Barrie Diabetes Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032

1. Contributed by Douglas A. Melton, July 8, 2009 (received for review May 18, 2009)
   

 

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Abstract

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is the result of an autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β cells. The cellular and molecular defects that cause the disease remain unknown. Pluripotent cells generated from patients with T1D would be useful for disease modeling. We show here that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be generated from patients with T1D by reprogramming their adult fibroblasts with three transcription factors (OCT4, SOX2, KLF4). T1D-specific iPS cells, termed DiPS cells, have the hallmarks of pluripotency and can be differentiated into insulin-producing cells. These results are a step toward using DiPS cells in T1D disease modeling, as well as for cell replacement therapy.