Possible new Type 1 diabetes treatment under study by MU … – Columbia Missourian

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Two MU researchers are part of a team working on a new treatment for Type 1 diabetes that would eliminate the need for regular insulin injections.
MU School of Medicine researchers Haval Shirwan and Esma Yolcu are part of a research team that recently was awarded a $3.2 million National Institutes of Health grant to study the treatment. The team also includes researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis.
The idea is to improve upon an existing experimental treatment called pancreatic islet transplantation, in which clusters of pancreas cells from a deceased donor are transplanted into a vein that carries blood in the liver of a person with Type 1 diabetes.
After transplantation, the cell clusters make and release insulin, so that daily insulin injections are no longer necessary. However, this treatment has its limitations: donors are scarce, and recipients require lifelong use of immunosuppressive drugs so their bodies don’t reject the new cell clusters.
The new approach being studied would involve converting a type of self-renewing stem cell into an insulin-producing beta cell, then transplanting clusters of those cells into patients with Type 1 diabetes.
With the use of stem cells, the use of pancreatic cells from deceased donors would no longer be necessary.
“There is an unlimited source of stem cells, which solves the bottleneck currently associated with donor cells,” Shirwan said in an email. “To ensure these cells are not destroyed after transplantation, we have developed a protein that will be included in the microgel mixture that will protect the transplanted cells by eliminating graft-destroying immune cells, while expanding those beneficial to the survival of the graft.”
The stem cell to beta cell conversion transplant will first be tested on preclinical models, before being tested on humans.
“This highly significant and innovative strategy is fundamentally different from ongoing work in this field,” Yolcu said. “If successful, this technology could benefit other transplant patients who require lifelong immunosuppression. The potential of this research is wide-reaching and very exciting.”
This grant represents bench-to-bedside research — a process in which the results of laboratory research are directly incorporated into treatments for patients — a hallmark of MU’s ambitious NextGen Precision Health initiative.
MU reporter, fall 2022 Studying journalism and English. reach me at simmermanalexis@mail.missouri.edu or in the newsroom at 882-5720
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