Type 1 diabetes: self regenerate insulin-producing cells?

 ?self regenerate insulin-producing cells

Diabetes type 1, characterized by the selective loss of pancreatic insulin-producing β cells , is a disease affecting more than 30 million people worldwide .

Despite current therapies , patients with type 1 diabetes have a life expectancy reduced by 5 to 8 years. It is in this context that the team Future " Genetics of Diabetes " working to develop new approaches to regenerate these cells.

Researchers at the Institute of Biology Valrose (Inserm / Université Nice Sophia Antipolis ) were reached in 2009 to transform α -producing cells of glucagon in β cells in young mice . Today, thanks to the use of transgenic mice , they reveal the mechanisms leading to this change of identity cell . It is precisely pancreatic duct cells can be mobilized and literally transformed into α and β cells, and this at any age. This conversion is achieved by forced activation of Pax α 4 gene in pancreatic cells .

The cascade of events that results causes the production of all new β cells, possible thanks to the awakening of developmental genes . Throughout this process, the α cells are regenerated and gradually adopt the profile of β cells. The pancreas therefore has an almost inexhaustible source of cells that can replace β cells.

By artificially creating a type 1 diabetes in mice, " we have also shown that all pancreatic β cells can be regenerated at least three times through this mechanism. Diabetes and induced in mice, can be literally " careful " multiple times with the new stock of β functional insulin -producing cells , "explains Patrick Collombat , Inserm Research Director and lead author of the study.

These promising results in mice suggest that the pancreas contains cells that can regenerate several times lost β cells in type 1 diabetes .

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