UI researchers tout diabetes development

Insulin-producing cells, derived from human skin cells in a University of Iowa experiment.(Photo: Public Library of Science/PLOS ONE)

University of Iowa researchers say they've retrained human skin cells to produce insulin in mice, a discovery that they hope could someday help reverse the effects of diabetes in people.

The researchers are working toward a day when people with diabetes could avoid the need for insulin shots or pancreas transplants.

In a paper published online Wednesday by the Public Library of Science, the researchers explained that they took skin cells from adult humans and retrained them to act as if they were pancreas cells. The pancreas is the organ whose failure causes diabetes, a dangerous condition that leaves the body unable to process sugar.

The American Diabetes Association's top national expert called the Iowa research "a cutting-edge approach."

Dr. Nicholas Zavazava(Photo: Special to the Register)

In the experiment, the transplanted cells essentially grew into a new pancreas near each mouse's kidney, said Dr. Nicholas Zavazava, a UI internal medicine professor who helped lead the study.

Zavazava said it would be at least several years before the approach could be tried in humans. But he expressed optimism about the project, which began in 2005. "We are no longer in the wilderness, like we were 10 years ago," he said.

Zavazava said stem cells from human embryos can be used to do the same thing. That method is controversial, however, because it involves the question of whether it's ethical to use embryonic tissue to treat diseases.

The new UI approach took skin cells from adult humans and transformed them into a version of stem cells. The cells then were treated with special proteins that encouraged them to act like pancreas cells. Then they were transplanted near the kidneys of the mice, which had been previously treated to have diabetes, the paper said. The cells grew into what amounted to new pancreases. Over time, most of the mice with the transplanted cells processed sugar better than similar mice that didn't get the transplants.

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UI researchers tout diabetes development