|
medpundit |
||
 |
 |
|
Saturday, March 15, 2003In a finding that may open a new avenue to treating diabetes, researchers have shown that cells from the bone marrow give rise to insulin-producing cells in the pancreas of mice. These morphed cells actually produce the hormone insulin in response to glucose and display other characteristics demonstrating that they truly function as pancreas cells, according to a new study by researchers from NYU School of Medicine. The study was published in yesterday's Journal of Clinical Investigation. The researchers caution that the findings cannot be applied to treating diabetics now, but may one day provide a means to produce unlimited quantities of functional insulin-producing cells culled from the bone marrow of diabetes patients. Because patients would produce their own cells for transplantation, it is possible the cells would not be rejected by their immune system. The experiment involved transplanting bone marrow cells from male mice into female mice. The male bone marrow cells could be easily identified by their Y chromosomes. Insulin production was identified by a green flourescenct protein marker that made the male marrow cells glow if their insulin producing gene was switched on. Six weeks after the transplant, green-glowing Y chromosome-containing pancreatic cells were found in the pancreas (pancreases?) of female mice. (Photos of the glowing cells can be found here and here.) This is an important development in the use of adult stem cells to treat disease. One argument against their use, often put forth by those who advocate the use of embryonic stem cells instead, is that adult bone marrow cells aren’t as plastic as embryonic cells - they can’t evolve into as wide a variety of cells; and that when they do, it’s because they fused with host cells. This experiment appears to suggest otherwise. Wesley J. Smith has more on adult stem cell advances here. posted by Sydney on 3/15/2003 08:44:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
|
