U.S. uses embryonic stem cells to grow pancreatic functional cells

scientists who have grown human embryonic stem cells into pancreatic functional cells for the first time, a study published online February 20 in Nature Biosciences, marks an important step in the process of using embryonic stem cells to treat diabetesPancreatic beta cells are cells that play an important role in diabetes and are used to secrete insulin associated with blood sugar, which occurs because of their loss or damageIf scientists can find a reliable way to grow human embryonic stem cells into beta cells, they can replenish the beta cells missing in diabetic patientsBut so far, no one has successfully bred functional beta cells in the labNow, U.Sbiologist Emali Etger and his colleagues say in a california study that they have managed to make human embryonic stem cells work in miceFor several years, the team has tried to turn human embryonic stem cells into beta cells using molecular signals from the development of the pancreas in the fetusIn the initial experiment, the researchers found a technique that appears to produce insulin-secreted cells that do not respond to glucose, a key function of beta cellsSo the researchers changed direction and tried to grow the pancreatic epithelial cortex cells that appeared at 6 to 9 weeks of human embryos instead of getting mature beta cellsThey transplanted the immature cells into mice in the hope of producing signals of beta cell formationOn the 30th day of transplantation, researchers detected that the blood of mice contained human C peptides, a by-product of insulin in animalsThe researchers said the observation of C peptides instead of insulin was because it was easier to distinguish between human C peptides and mice C peptides, so that the results of the experiment could be more clearly seenTwo months later, when the mice were given a dose of glucose, they were found to have an increase in the amount of C peptides in their bodies, indicating that the transplanted cells responded to blood sugarIn the end, the researchers selectively killed the beta cells that came with them in mice, a toxin that usually makes mice diabetic, but mice that transplanted human cells did not have diabetes at this time, suggesting in part that transplanted cells can replace the animal's own beta cellsThe study is of great significance in this area, according to Teresa Ku, a diabetes expert at the Beckman Institute in CaliforniaNow some companies are already negotiating with the U.SFood andDrug
administration to test safety in human trialsBut he also points out that it is not clear whether the endothelial cells of the pancreas can recover and renew themselves, and if they can't, they will be excreted in a few years, and patients will have to be transplanted again(Ma Aiping)