PRESENTS THE LEADING BIOTECH These are some of the leading companies in the development of therapies and treatments with stem cells
DIABETES AND STEM CELL RESEARCH
A Report From The World Stem Cell Summit
Stem cells and diabetes are old friends, and if you've spent any time reading about diabetes, you probably have at least a vague sense that stem cells are important for a cure for diabetes.
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kay, so we have these stem cells; what does this mean for me as a diabetic? Currently, there are a number of promising uses of stem cells for treating and potentially curing diabetes—here are a few I heard about at the World Stem Cell Summit: BETA-CELL
REGENERATION This is probably the most well known of the potential uses of stem cells in the diabetes space. The basic idea is that we, as type 1 diabetics or laterstage type 2 diabetics, do not have functioning beta cells. Rather than just trying to be beta cells ourselves and inject
exogenous insulin, why not put in new beta cells? One way to do this is pancreas transplants, or islet transplants. This is done today, with varying degrees of success; some recipients report gradual loss of function of the transplanted cells, while others have been going strong now for up to ten
years. In either case, though, recipients must take immunosuppressants, as with any organ transplant, and that carries with it a whole new set of problems for the patient. Further, donor islets are very hard to find; usually they come from the cadavers of those who opted for organ donation. Islets can also come from
other species like pigs, but then we're compounding the immune rejection issue. So that's where stem cells come in. Many groups, including the lab of MeriFirpo at the University of Minnesota, are actively working on ways to efficiently take somatic cells, convert them into iPSCs, and differentiate them down to insulin-producing beta
cells. If this could be done in a consistent and reproducible way, it would serve as a plentiful, autologous source of beta cells for diabetics. Similarly, some labs, like that of Shimon Efrat at the Tel-Aviv University in Israel, aim to create insulin-producing cells from autologous adult stem cells like liver progenitor cells. IMMUNOPRIVILEGING
Stem cell assimilation and treatment of injuries, though, doesn't have to stay on the surface. One of the incredible things about mesenchymal stem cells is that, when injected into an organism, they tend to migrate towards the locations of greatest need. So, if a patient was recently diagnosed with diabetes, and their immune system is in the process of attacking the beta cells,
infused stem cells might naturally move toward the site of inflammation—the pancreas. Once there, the thought is that the stem cells will act in their natural healing capacity, limiting the immune offense and creating an immunopriveleged environment around the beta cells. There are several clinical trials recruiting currently to test this theory.
any complications from very high blood sugar have developed.
stage of development and does
Wound healing In addition to cures for diabetes itself, stem cells are being applied to curing some of the complications associated with diabetes. Several types of adult stem cells, including mesenchymal stem cells, the multipotent progenitors which yield cells that make up bone, fat, cartilage, and other related tissues, have been found to be remarkable at wound healing. Stem cell scaffolds and grafts would be applied to the wounds, stimulating tissue growth and regeneration for ailments like diabetic foot ulcers.
"Stem cell transplants 'have freed patients with type 1 diabetes of daily insulin injections'" The Daily Telegraph has said. The news comes after research which allowed volunteers to go, on average, for two and a half years without using the multiple daily injections normally needed to manage their condition. The small study involved 23 patients with newly-diagnosed type 1 diabetes, a condition in which the immune system can rapidly destroy the
insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. These stem cell transplants apparently work by 'resetting' the immune system so that the body stops attacking the pancreas. The researchers themselves say that this treatment can only be used when the condition is caught early enough (within six weeks of diagnosis), before the pancreas has been irreversibly damaged and before
The study provides another avenue for research, but this treatment is still at a early
come with some side effects and risks. Dr Iain Frame, research director of Diabetes UK, has emphasised that "this is not a cure for type 1 diabetes�.
CLONING TEETH FOR IMPLANTATION USING STEM CELLS One expert estimates that by age 74, more than a quarter of all Americans will have lost a significant amount of their permanent teeth. While there are options to replace those teeth, what if you could grow your own? The idea of a "cloned smile" isn't that far off.
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early 70 percent of adults age 35 to 44 have lost at least one permanent tooth. And despite advances in dentistry, that trend only gets worse as we age. But what if there was a way to replace your teeth without using dental implants? That futuristic idea may be coming to a dentist's office near you. One expert estimates that by age 74, more than a quarter of all Americans will have lost a significant amount of their permanent teeth. While there are options to replace those teeth, what if you could grow your own? The idea of a "cloned smile" isn't that far off. Dentures are the past, dental implants are the present -- could the future be teeth grown from stem cells?
"People really care about their teeth and they really care once those teeth are gone," said Dr. Peter Murray, endodontics professor at Nova Southeastern University. Danka Premovic agrees. When previous dental work failed, she began wearing a mask. "I'm a perky person. I'm a people person and for me to cover up my mouth and wear a mask, it's just not me," said Premovic. Premovic now has eight implants. It's patients like her that dental regeneration researcher Dr. Murray wants to help. "It would be nice to give people back their own teeth and make their whole body whole again," said Murray.
To grow teeth, researchers isolate stem cells from the mouth or bone marrow. The cells are multiplied in the lab, then grown on 3-dimensional scaffolds. Stem cells are then attached to an actual tooth. "All the animal studies that have been done so far are very encouraging, so it looks like the clinical trials will be successful," said Murray. The teeth can be grown in the lab and implanted in the patient or they could actually grow inside the patient's mouth, filling in empty spaces with new teeth in just a few months. "This will be, in the future, the standard of care for dentistry, to use stem cell therapy to regrow
teeth or parts of teeth," said Murray. Dentist Sharon Siegel says there's no doubt about it. "If they can have a part of their body replaced by a part of them, I think we're going to have a whole new era in dentistry," said Dr. Sharon Siegel, a dentist at Nova Southeastern University. Though Danka Premovic is happy with her new implants, she says she'll be first in line when clinical trials for these begin. Dr. Murray says growing replacement teeth from stem cells will pave the way for growing other complete replacement body parts. He says teeth are relatively safe because if a tooth fails, it can simply be extracted.