Stem Cells and Diabetes

The Present

Background

Diabetes affects more people and causes more deaths each year than breast cancer and AIDS combined.

The American Diabetes Association estimates that 16 million people, 5.9% of the U.S. population, currently has some type of diabetes.

What is diabetes?

group of diseases abnormally high levels of glucose in the

blood possible complications include blindness,

stroke, kidney failure, heart disease, poor circulation, and amputation

Type 1 Diabetes

juvenile-onset

typically affects children and young adults immune system attacks and destroys

beta cells (β cells) in the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas that normally produce insulin

glucose does not enter the cells and therefore accumulates in the blood

Type 2 Diabetes

adult-onset diabetes typically affects older, sedentary, and

overweight individuals with a family history of diabetes

body cannot use insulin effectively due to insulin resistance, glucose

accumulates in the blood

Role of Pancreas in Diabetes

What is insulin? peptide hormone synthesized within the β cells of the islets of

Langerhans located in the pancreas affects metabolism and other body functions causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat

tissue to take up glucose from the bloodstream

Role of Pancreas in Diabetes

Question:

In type I diabetics, is it possible to get cells to produce insulin? two possible sources of cells

• existing cells

• adult stem cells

What are adult stem cells?

They are: undifferentiated cells that occur in

differentiated tissue able to make identical copies of

themselves able to yield specialized cell types of the

tissue from which they originated do not replicate indefinitely in culture

Researchers are Investigating:

Is it possible to activate the differentiation of adult stem cells present in the pancreas in order to produce needed insulin in type I diabetics?

What advantage/disadvantage would this have over organ/islet transplantation or insulin injection?

Researchers Would Need to Know:

Are there adult stem cells present in the pancreas that differentiate into beta cells?

Are adult pancreatic beta cells formed by self-duplication, stem cell differentiation, or a combination of the two processes?

Mouse-Model Study

A pulse-chase experiment performed by Professor Douglas Melton and his team provides important information about how beta cells are replaced.

Keep in mind that cells are replaced by:

Adult stem cells Mitotic division of existing cells Combination of the two