New hope for diabetes patients.

The infected persondiabetesType 1 diabetes is caused by a deficiency of beta cells in the endocrine pancreas, which is responsible for producing insulin. To monitor and control blood glucose levels, patients must undergo frequent testing and receive supplemental insulin injections, which is inconvenient and carries a high risk.

Scientists have discovered a new approach to treating diabetes - Photo:Gizmag

Therefore, scientists at the Gladstone Institute in San Francisco (USA) have been researching how to transform skin cells into beta cells that supply the endocrine pancreas to produce insulin.

One of the challenges is that when the endocrine pancreas weakens, it limits the regeneration of beta cells. Professor Sheng Ding at the Gladstone Institute has pursued a direction that leverages stem cell technology to transform skin cells into beta cells that secrete endogenous insulin.

The research team started with skin cells called fibroblasts, which were collected from laboratory mice. Through treatment with a mixture of molecules and reprogramming of elements, the fibroblasts transformed into cells similar to endoderm cells, a type of cell found in embryos from a very early age and eventually transforming into major internal organs including the pancreas.

According to Gizmag, Dr. Scholar Ke Li stated that the endodermal cells transformed into pancreatic cells called PPLCs, which mature like beta cells that help the pancreas secrete insulin.

In the experiment, some mice were genetically modified to dramatically increase their blood glucose levels, and then PPLC was implanted in their bodies. After a week, their blood glucose levels gradually returned to normal.

In longer-term trials, after eight weeks of PPLC implantation, scientists observed a significant increase in functional cells that help increase insulin secretion.

Gizmag quoted Dr. Matthias Hebrok, a member of the research team and director of a diabetes center, as saying that this technology could be applied to humans to create a new method of treating type 1 diabetes.

According to Thanhnien