Islets in Biological News

JDRF-funded researchers discover proteins regulating human beta cell replication

... alone or with cyclin D, when injected into human islets by viral delivery methods, triggered the beta cells to replicate. These transduced islets were then transplanted into diabetic mice for six ... better than control (non-modified) human islets as measured by blood glucose levels and glucose ...

Researcher tricks immune system in diabetic mice

... a way to trick the immune system of mice into believing those transplanted islets are its own cells. This new technique eliminated the need for the ... without pre-treated cells, the immune system rejected the transplanted islets within 15 days. In an upcoming study, Miller and Luo will work with ...

New technique eliminates toxic drugs in islet transplant in diabetic mice

... a way to trick the immune system of mice into believing those transplanted islets are its own cells. This new technique eliminated the need for the ... without pre-treated cells, the immune system rejected the transplanted islets within 15 days. In an upcoming study, Miller and Luo will work with ...

NIBIB invests in quantum research

... replacement strategy for treating diabetes. Transplantation of pancreatic islets to restore insulin production is promising; however, the donor pancreata ... and do not meet medical needs. The development of these tissue engineered islets will provide a new source of insulin-producing cells and help realize the ...

Breakthrough research identifies how cells from pigs may cure diabetes

... issues, researchers are now working to transplant porcine islets in an engineered pre-vascularized, cytoprotective and immune-privileged ... will be able to provide unlimited islet tissue in a few years. Pig islets from young disease-free donors are superior to cadaver human islets. ...

LSUHSC student awarded top national honor for diabetes research

... Beta cells are located in islet cell clusters throughout the pancreas. Diabetes mellitus type 1 results from the destruction or dysfunction of islets and their beta cells. Type 2 diabetes results from the body's inability to use insulin properly and a gradual decrease in the pancreas's ability to ...

Human beta cells can be easily induced to replicate, according to study in Diabetes

... the cells replicated. Stimulation was further enhanced by increasing production of another cell cycle molecule called cyclin D1. Untreated human islets did not replicate. "After we transplanted some of these engineered human beta cells under the outer layer of a kidney in a diabetic mouse, we saw ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- July 2, 2008

... United States. In the new study, Yuji Teramura and Hiroo Iwata point out that transplantation of the pancreas's insulin producing cells, so-called islets of Langerhans, is a promising experimental technique for treating patients with insulin-dependent diabetes. However, the procedure is not ...

Type 1 diabetes triggered by 'lazy' regulatory T-cells: McGill researchers

... including blindness, heart attack and stroke. The genetic and cellular mechanisms by which the immune system goes out of control and destroys the islets has been an enigma and an area of great interest over the last few decades, said Dr. Piccirillo, Canada Research Chair in Regulatory Lymphocytes of ...

New data from NIH lab confirms protocol to reverse type 1 diabetes in mice

... the activity of the immune cells that destroy islets in type 1 diabetes. They also introduced donor ... cells to retrain the immune system not to attack islets and found that the protocol not only halted the ... diabetes, in which regeneration of remaining islets may be the dominant mechanism. ...

Diabetes researchers pioneer islet cell xenotransplantation in primate studies

... entitled "Long-term survival of neonatal porcine islets in non-human primates by targeting co-stimulation ... of Minnesota researchers; those researchers used islets isolated from adult pig pancreases. Neonatal islets were produced in Edmonton using a procedure Drs. ...

World-first Living Donor Islet Cell Transplant A Success; Procedure Offers Promise For Diabetics

... Dr. Shinichi Masumoto then isolated the living islets in the Kyoto Centre for Cell and Molecular ... 27-year-old diabetic daughter. The transplanted islets began producing insulin within minutes, explains ... normally the Edmonton Protocol is done with islets from brain-dead organ donors. ...

New imaging technology shown to detect pancreatic inflammation in type 1 diabetes

... in this process, white blood cells called T lymphocytes infiltrate the islets of the pancreas (an inflammatory condition known as insulitis), causing ... technique to reveal the otherwise undetectable inflammation of pancreatic islets in recently diagnosed diabetic mice. As T lymphocytes invade the pancreas, ...

Single-donor Islet Transplantation Procedure Shows Promise For Patients With Type 1 Diabetes

... has recently been increased markedly by transplanting a higher number of islets prepared from 2 to 4 donor pancreases. However, for islet transplants to ... islet transplant efficacy. We not only achieved insulin independence using islets from only 1 donor pancreas [as compared with 2 to 4 in another trial], we ...

Spleen may be source of versatile stem cells

... a source of adult stem cells that could regenerate the insulin-producing islets of the pancreas. In a follow-up to that unexpected finding, members of ... in the spleens of adult mice by the same cells that regenerated the islets in the earlier study. They also found that these cells did not produce a ...

Adult stem cells from human cord umbilical cord blood successfully engineered to make insulin

... in the laboratory into billions of cells, Denner explained. Then, for a person with type 1 diabetes, researchers might engineer these cells to become islets of Langerhans, the cellular masses that produce the hormone insulin, which allows the body to utilize sugar, synthesize proteins and store neutral ...

Joslin discovers signs of residual islet cell function in people with long-term type 1 diabetes

... If a way can be found to stimulate islet growth, we could improve their diabetes and reduce insulin usage or better control blood glucose levels. If islets were returned to normal levels, they wouldn't need to take insulin," said Dr. King. Of the 326 Joslin 50-Year Medalist Study respondents who have ...

Precise Timing Enabled Pig-to-rat Transplants To Cure Diabetes

... of such primordia. Even the endocrine part of the pancreas, where insulin is made, is different. "There are no structures similar to the islets of Langerhans, only individual endocrine cells engrafted in the omentum. This is a perfect place for them to release insulin where it will do the ...

Rare surgery performed to remove pancreas, prevent diabetes

... In the past, such surgery might eliminate the pain but would leave the patient with severe, poorly-controlled diabetes, since the insulin-producing islets of Langerhans would necessarily be discarded along with the rest of the organ. Patients without functioning islet cells have to take insulin for ....

Stem cells from brain transformed to produce insulin at Stanford

... stem cells may be one way to sidestep the more problematic embryonic stem cells. The study shows that his intuition was correct. "When you look at islets cells you realize that they resemble neurons," Kim said. Like neurons, islet cells respond to external signals by changing their electrical ...