Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine working with pig pancreatic cells say they have made a major breakthrough in the path towards a cure to Type 1 diabetes, according to a recent article from One India.
By employing a two-step transplant process, they were able to place insulin-producing islet cells from pigs into diabetic rats without using immunosuppressant drugs. They first transplanted a cluster of embryonic pig pancreatic cells, which grew into a pancreas, into rats with diabetes. These cells conditioned the immune system to accept the second transplant, which contained insulin-producing islet cells from adult pigs a few weeks later.
This development is important because it’s the first time such a transplant has occurred across species without using immunosuppressant drugs and could be a viable path for a cure to Type 1 diabetes in humans in the future.
Currently, a small number of people with Type 1 diabetes have received islet transplants from human donors. However, because Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, the patients must take immunosuppressant drugs to prevent the body’s immune system from attacking and destroying the newly transplanted cells. However, immunosuppressant drugs come with their own set of drawback and the transplants often only offer a temporary solution to Type 1 diabetes.
The current developments with the pig cells are significant because of the limited supply of human islet cells available for transplantation.
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