Scientists Cure Mice of Diabetes Using Cells Grown Inside Rats (qz.com) 72
In a process that could transform organ transplantation, scientists in Japan and the U.S. have reportedly cured mice of diabetes by transplanting mouse cells grown in rats. The study has been published in the journal Nature. Quartz reports: To achieve this feat, researchers injected mouse pluripotent stem cells into a rat embryo. As the name suggests, these pluripotent stem cells are able to transform themselves into all types of cells. The mouse cells intermingled with rat cells, and created a chimera whose organs and tissues were almost all created from a mix of mouse and rat cells. Crucially, however, they had modified the rat to not produce pancreatic cells. They achieved this by knocking out a gene called Pdx1. The upshot was that the pancreas in the chimera was almost completely made of mouse cells. When the rat-mouse chimeras became adults, the researchers removed the animals' pancreases and from them, isolated endocrine islets, which contain B-cells that produce insulin. The B-cells were then transplanted to diabetic mice that had lost all their native B-cells. The mice that received the transplant were put on mild immunosuppressant drugs. However, the scientists found they only needed to administer the drugs for five days after transplantation. Surprisingly, the few rat cells that came along during the transplant (mostly in the blood vessels in the islets) had been destroyed and replaced by the mouse's own cells. The B-cells in mice that got the transplants functioned just as they would in a healthy mouse for more than a year, which was the complete observation period. These lab mice only live for two to three years, which makes a one-year observation fairly long. The research opens up the door for growing human organs inside, say, a pig, using the patient's own stem cells and then transplanting the organ when it's mature and ready.
Sorry, Miss Piggy (Score:2)
But we need to take that liver now.
Will it grow back? (Score:2)
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I wonder how muslims and jews will react if offered an organ transplant from a pig. Seriously, not being racist or anything, will they stick to their religious beliefs that pigs are unclean rather than get cured of diabetes?
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I for one welcome our new diabetes free Orc overlords!!!
Sounds amazing... but... (Score:1)
Give some time, and this 'cure' will just vanish mysteriously.
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Of course we're making treatments for mice. After all, we are their experiment...
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No. This "cure" is/was never a cure. It's an opportunity to learn something that one day might lead to a cure. Ideas like this that "vanish mysteriously" vanish because they learn something that didn't work out.
It's kind of like the Thomas Edison quote "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
Pessimistic (Score:5, Interesting)
As somebody who has Type 1 diabetes, I really want this to work on people, but it's so hard to be optimistic when I hear about research like this. Animal models don't always translate well when it comes to humans.
It's a shame that Mary Tyler Moore didn't make it long enough to hear about this.
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Given how much of a problem organ rejection is in human-to-human transplants, I'm wondering how on earth the rat's (or eventual pig's) body is not rejecting the human I get that it's a chimera organ, containing both, but just as the mouse immune system purges the rat cells from the organ, how does the rat's system not purge the mouse cells while the organ is growing?
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Re:Pessimistic (Score:5, Insightful)
My 7 year old son was diagnosed T1D about a year and a half ago.
Seeing things like this kind of make me angry for the reasons you mentioned. In my research it seems we're always "10 years away from a cure".
So far the islet implants are looking the most promising, but I guess we'll see.
Re: Pessimistic (Score:2)
On a regular basis... and when I try to actually explain what it is, and how it happens they just look at me like I'M the stupid one.
Its infuriating how poorly educated people are about this disease. It doesn't help that when drug companies advertise drugs in commercials, they just say "Diabetes", not specifying which one.
While I understand they are similar, they really ought to have two very different names to avoid confusion.
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I have a different uncurable problem and I'd happily volunteer to test various experimental treatments, but there doesn't seem to be any way to do it. I guess it's for safety, but I know people with the same problem who have gone to eastern Europe and China for treatment out of desperation. So far none of them have been badly affected but it's only a matter of time.
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I am also a Type 1 diabetic and I am very pessimistic about this. The problem here is scientists have already come up with a few different ways to do this but there is still one major issue remaining that is not being addressed by this.
Type 1 diabetes is caused by the immune system destroying B-cells, and this will not prevent this from happening. So even if Type 1 diabetic's can get working islet cells, it would only last for a little while before our immune systems would destroy them once again. This i
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Even if it would work in humans, we will likely never see it happen because of the embryo thing
To achieve this feat, researchers injected mouse pluripotent stem cells into a rat embryo
Harvesting human embryos would probably not go over well in this country (US)
Re: Pessimistic (Score:2)
I don't think this is being pitched as a cure for diabetes, and it's likely diabetes treatment isn't the end goal (there are other problems that need to be solved first). It's likely this is just for proving the concept of xenotransplantation. My guess is that they chose beta cells because their function is easier to measure and they can be destroyed by the immune system much easier than whole organs, which probably can't be adequately tested since mice don't live long enough.
This will probably be useful fo
Lukcy mice (Score:1)
Obligatory Douglas Adams post (Score:2)
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Tl; dr: scientists are murderers.
I would venture to guess that the number of mice killed by mousetraps in the USA dwarfs the number killed by scientists each year. I wouldn't be surprised if the number killed by pet snakes is larger than the number killed by scientists and I know that the number killed by pet cats is *way* larger. And let's not get started on the millions of chickens killed each year before barely matured. These mice lived almost their entire lifespan well fed and well cared for. They likely had a much longer and happi
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Murder no more... bacteria ...
As a child, I was forced to engage in a legacy of genocide by cleaning the bathroom every weekend. The guilt of a billion billion silenced innocents is my cross to bear. At times, the pain is almost too much, but my own death would be a coward's escape. The nightmares are almost a relief, a small atonement for those who were never even allowed to dream. Never again... never forget.
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I have been a type 1 diabetic for 20 years (Score:5, Informative)
This is great as it works to solve the Islet cell production problem, however it by itself is not a cure.
There are already several drugs that are known to cause insulin producing beta cells to grow in the human pancreas, however the problem that this does not address is how to stop the immune system in the type 1 diabetes (autoimmune) from just destroying all of the new islets from this process.
There have been trials of procedures to limit, suppress or re-educate the immune system to halt the autoimmunity with varying degrees of success (usually just making it so that the autoimmune attack on the pancreas does not get any worse but does not get any better either in the best of cases) Unless you can do both, halting the autoimmunity and replacing the beta cell mass this will not be a practical cure for type 1 diabetes. It is simply an alternative piece of the puzzles for the part about how to replace islet cells once we are able to stop them from being destroyed by the patient's autoimmune condition. We are not very far along on the understanding of the cause of autoimmunity. Some studies say that it is caused by bacteria, some say it is caused by genetics, some say it is caused by heavy metal poisoning some say it is caused by viruses some say it is caused by radiation. Until we can figure out why autoimmunity occurs in a specific patient and reverse that autoimmunity, implanting replacement beta cells is an exercise in futility.
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Totally agree. A true cure fixes/blocks the autoimmune system and replenishes the beta cells.
The only cures I've seen require a pancreas transplant and immune system suppression drugs. The Viacyte also has promise http://viacyte.com/ [viacyte.com]
Now swap them (Score:1)
As if fecal transplants weren't bad enough (Score:1)
/ I'm gonna use this space to plug Mary Roach's Gulp
So if they cure mice with rats... (Score:1)
I don't exactly make a study of it, but last time I heard there were scant few gorillas compared to humans.
What ever happened to capsaicin injections? (Score:1)
Mr. Pig, you have won! (Score:1)
Let me see if I get this (Score:2)
SO... (Score:2)
To help human diabetics, they'll need to take cells from the 1% and politicians?
Not the same thing (Score:2)