Pure Insulin-producing Cells Produced In Mice

I swear announcements like this just keep coming faster and faster

Pure Insulin-producing Cells Produced In Mice

Reading thru this, it mentions that the insulin-producing cells weren’t destroyed in an auto-immune response. Does this imply that the auto-immune system is not targeting these cells directly?

I seem to remember reading a while ago that another study showed the cells surrounding the beta cells were actually being attacked and were inflamed. This inflammation was what was causing the beta cells to stop producing insulin. I’ll have to see if I can dig that one up

I couldn’t seem to find the one I was thinking of, there are lots of articles about inflammation and T2, but only a couple of them about T1, but it does seem to play a roll

This is actually a line of research that’s being pursued in a number a facilities around the world. I went to a lab at the University of British Columbia where there are several mice who’ve been living for over a year without their pancreas. Insulin producing dna is spliced into a gut cell which ties the production of insulin to GLP-1 that the cell already produces. This creates an insulin producing cell that doesn’t trigger the body’s immune response because it’s actually a gut cell. That lab is now moving onto larger mammal studies with this same cell line.
GLP-1 research by this UBC lab laid the groundwork for development of Byletta…
Yes, announcements are coming fast and furious–the only thing holding it all back is funding and the regulations governing research testing–it really is getting closer.

“Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
G.K. Chesterton

Thanks Moe, it makes more sense now. Hopefully some of this will pay off someday.