Chinese scientists have made important progress in stem cell therapy for diabetes research!

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Mainland scientists have made important progress in stem cell therapy for diabetes, and the research team of Deng Hongkui of Peking University, the research team of Peng Xiaozhong of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the research team of Shen Zhongyang of Tianjin First Central Hospital have solved the problem of efficiently inducing human pluripotent stem cells (IPS) to differentiate into functionally mature islet cells, which is expected to become a more ideal treatment solution for curing type 1 diabetes in the future.

Using the animal model of preclinical primate diabetes, the research team systematically evaluated the safety and efficacy of IPS-derived islet transplantation in the treatment of diabetes, laying a solid foundation for further standardizing the implementation of clinical research on the treatment of diabetes by IPS-derived islet transplantation.

The relevant research results were published online on February 4 in the international authoritative journal "Nature and Medicine".

Type 1 diabetes is due to the destruction of insulin-producing islet cells by the immune system, patients rely on insulin therapy, but long-term insulin therapy still can not avoid the occurrence and development of diabetic complications, and excessive insulin dosage can lead to hypoglycemic attacks, severe cases can threaten the patient's life.

Although islet transplantation can effectively treat type 1 diabetes and significantly reduce the occurrence and development of serious complications of diabetes, there is a serious shortage of pancreatic donors suitable for islet transplantation, which limits the widespread clinical application of islet transplantation.

IPS is a stem cell with multiple differentiation potentials that can become functionally mature islet cells by inducing differentiation in vitro, but the inefficiency of differentiation has always been an important bottleneck hindering its development.

Deng Hongkui's research team greatly optimized the differentiation scheme of IPS to islet cells, focusing on how to efficiently induce the localization of the fate from pancreatic precursor cells to islet endocrine cells, so as to make it possible to prepare functionally mature islet cells in vitro on a large scale.

The research team transplanted human IPS-derived islets to diabetic rhesus macaques through preclinical primate diabetes models, and the blood glucose control level of the recipient monkeys was significantly improved compared with before transplantation, the glycosylated hemoglobin decreased significantly, and the pathological test results showed that the transplanted islet cells survived and maintained good function.

More importantly, the research team did not find tumorigening in transplanted cells during the primate experimental cycle, which initially verified the safety of the human IPS-derived islet transplantation treatment plan.

According to the co-first author of this paper, Professor Wang Shusen of the Organ Transplant Center of Tianjin First Central Hospital, preclinical primate experiments are an important preliminary basis for clinical research on islet transplantation derived from IPS, which can better evaluate the safety and efficacy of treatment plans, and have very important guiding significance for the smooth implementation of follow-up clinical studies.

The team will continue to optimize the IPS to islet differentiation and transplantation protocol, systematically carry out clinical research on ISLET transplantation from IPS sources, and strive to benefit the majority of type 1 diabetic patients as soon as possible.

(Source: Xinhua Viewpoint WeChat public account)

Proofreader: Sun Jiehua

Photo editor: Zhao Yanyi

Production: Zhang Wei

Editor-in-charge: Zhang Xiaoguang

Producer: Pu Hongyi

Issued: Pan Linqing