[OG Note: I know there's a lot of controversy about stem-cell research, but my opinion is with the right sort of controls it can radically and substantially improve the lives of millions--and save us all gazillions in the lifetime care of chronically-ill people. If stem cells can eventually be used to treat Type 2 diabetes, none of you will have to pay for my heart disease, kidney transplant(s), amputations, blindness, neuropathy, or any of the other horribly serious--and not uncommon--complications of diabetes. And I can spend a lot more time at home, making money, communing with my kitties and giving Sweetie a hard time, rather than being stuck in the hospital.]

Tuesday July 31, 3:16 PM

Research points to stem-cell therapy for diabetes

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli researchers said on Tuesday they had succeeded in coaxing human embryonic stem cells into producing the hormone insulin in a key step toward creating a revolutionary treatment for juvenile diabetes.

Stem cells -- primitive master cells -- that were derived from a human embryo days after fertilization transformed with chemical prodding in a petri dish into an abundant mass of cells possessing important qualities of the cells of the pancreas that secrete insulin, the researchers said. Those cells are called islet cells, or beta cells.

The findings represent a major stride toward using embryonic stem cells to treat type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes. The appearance of the study in the journal Diabetes, published by the American Diabetes Association, comes as President George W. Bush considers whether to allow federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells, essentially the body's early building blocks, are known for their ability to transform into virtually every cell type. Some scientists hope to harness this quality to treat type 1 diabetes by transplanting these cells into the bodies of patients in order to create healthy islet cells to secrete and regulate insulin.

The findings were "a necessary prerequisite for therapeutic strategies" for type 1 diabetes using stem cells, the researchers wrote. They came from the Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology and the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, and were led by Suheir Assady.

Dr. Christopher Saudek, president of the American Diabetes Association and a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, called the findings "exciting."

"Up until this point, people have talked about the possibility that human stem cells could be made to produce insulin. But here it is being demonstrated," Saudek said in a telephone interview.

INSULIN ALLOWS CELLS TO USE BLOOD SUGAR

Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease, results when the pancreas, an organ located near the stomach, produces inadequate amounts of insulin to meet the body's needs. Insulin is a hormone necessary for cells to be able to use blood sugar (glucose), the basic fuel for the cells in the body.

In those with the disease, the immune system attacks and destroys the pancreatic islet cells responsible for producing insulin. As a result, the pancreas stops producing insulin.

More than 1 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, which strikes children and some adults suddenly, making them dependent on daily insulin injections to stay alive. People with the disease face complications such as heart disease, stroke, amputation, blindness and kidney failure.

The American Diabetes Association said the only way to cure type 1 diabetes is by pancreas transplantation, but there is an insufficient supply of organs. Researchers are exploring alternative sources of the insulin-producing islet cells.

The researchers said the cells created in the laboratory possessed many characteristics of the islet cells, including insulin production and release. But they acknowledged they had not shown that the cells could regulate the insulin secretion depending upon the body's glucose levels.

"Although we have not demonstrated glucose responsiveness, we cannot conclude that the cells are glucose unresponsive," the researchers wrote.

"You can say they have demonstrated that you can turn on the gas. What they haven't demonstrated is that you have brakes and accelerators to control it. And that's what you would need in a final use," Saudek added.

Because the federal government has never funded research involving human embryonic stem cells, the study could not have been conducted in the United States with grant money from the National Institutes of Health, the major supporter of medical research.

"This is definitely the kind of research that would be accelerated enormously if federal funds could be made available for it," Saudek said.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001