Control blood sugar: Stomach cells may secrete insulin for diabetes management, study suggests

Stem cells from the human stomach can be converted into cells that secrete insulin in response to rising blood sugar levels, a key pre-clinical study says, which could be a promising way to treat diabetes. offers a promising outlook.

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City in the US showed they could take stem cells derived from human stomach tissue and reprogram them directly – with surprisingly high efficiency into cells known as beta cells. are similar to pancreatic insulin-secreting cells.

Transplantation of small groups of these cells reversed signs of the disease in a mouse model of diabetes, said the study, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.

“This is a proof-of-concept study that gives us a solid foundation for developing a treatment for type 1 diabetes and severe type 2 diabetes based on patients’ own cells,” said Dr. Joe Zhou, senior author of the study. Said. Member of the Hartmann Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Therapeutic Organ Regeneration at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Dr. Zhou has been working toward this goal for more than 15 years.

In a 2016 study, again in mice, he and his team showed that certain stem cells in the stomach, called gastric stem cells, are also highly sensitive to this activation method.

“The stomach makes its own hormone-secreting cells, and stomach cells and pancreatic cells are adjacent in the embryonic stage of development, so in this sense it is not entirely surprising that gastric stem cells are so readily converted to beta-like insulin.” -secreting cells,” Dr. Zhou elaborated.

After transforming human gastric stem cells into beta-like cells, the team grew the cells in small clusters called organoids and found that these organ-like pieces of tissue quickly became sensitive to glucose, responding with the secretion of insulin. .

Dr. Zhou said that he and his lab still need to optimize their method in various ways before it can be considered for clinical use.

Ultimately, the researchers hope to develop a technique that enables relatively easy harvesting of gastric stem cells from patients, followed by transplantation of insulin-secreting organoids, without the need for further medication. Controls blood sugar level.