
The latest news on the cure for diabetes in the United States in 2019.
This article talks about the latest news on the cure for diabetes in the United States in 2019. It is hoped that it will be helpful to you. Let's begin the formal explanation! Can diabetes be cured? It is said that a new technology developed recently in the United States can treat diabetes, but future technology cannot guarantee that it can cure it. However, based on the current situation, if it is caused by only medication or some other factors leading to "temporary blood sugar increase," the blood sugar will return to normal after a period of time. But if it is true diabetes, it is impossible to cure, only medication can control it within a normal range. Blood sugar will increase after stopping the medication. Claims about new technologies, especially those in advertisements, are all deceiving. If they don't deceive people, how can they make money?! Trust doctors, not advertisements or similar things.
Did the $4.7 billion investment in diabetes research in the United States succeed? Yes, it succeeded. Using advanced extraction technology, scientists in the United States successfully extracted a natural hypoglycemic factor from specially cultivated onions in Alaska. This factor can effectively regulate and balance blood sugar levels in the human body.
After years of research, American scientists have made a significant breakthrough in the field of diabetes recovery by restoring normal insulin secretion in the human body. Industry experts have stated that this discovery signifies the arrival of the era of bio-hypoglycemia and holds great significance in the field of diabetes medical research.
Harvard Research: Major Progress in Curing Diabetes with Small Chip Screening Pancreatic Islet Cells Stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease: End-stage kidney disease with uremic symptoms Stage 2 Chronic Kidney Disease: Mild chronic kidney disease, requires control of blood sugar, blood pressure, and diet Medicine working hand in hand with kidney friends to create a kidney-friendly life Advanced treatment for high blood phosphate: Citrate iron By combining two powerful technologies, scientists are taking diabetes research to a whole new level. In a study led by Kevin Kit Parker of Harvard University, published on August 29th in "Lab on a Chip," microfluidic technology and human insulin-producing β cells have been integrated into a pancreatic islet chip. The new device makes it easier for scientists to transplant insulin-producing cells into patients, test insulin compounds, and conduct screening for basic biology research on diabetes.
A study published by Harvard University in the United States points out that scientists can integrate microfluidics and human pancreatic beta cells onto special chips, which enables them to more easily screen for insulin-producing cells. The research was led by Professor Kevin Kit Parker and published in the journal "Lab on a Chip."
Diabetes patients have abnormal β cells, which can be generated using stem cells. Professor Douglas Melton from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute stated that in order to cure diabetes, we must restore a person's ability to produce and deliver insulin on their own. The main function of β cells in the pancreas is to secrete insulin. Insulin binds to insulin receptors on the surface of target cells, inducing metabolic changes in cells, accelerating glucose utilization and storage processes, and causing a decrease in blood sugar levels. Diabetes is caused by abnormal functioning of β cells in the pancreas, which means that these cells are unable to produce insulin at normal levels, resulting in the inability of the body to absorb blood sugar, leading to its accumulation in the bloodstream.
"Cell expert" Dr. Zhang Yiwen from Yangming Biochemical Institute explains that diabetes patients lack a type of β cell in their bodies. "β cells measure the sugar in the blood and are responsible for secreting insulin. However, in diabetic patients, β cells cannot function properly, causing the body to be unable to regulate the sugar levels and unable to produce adequate insulin to cope."
It is gratifying that it is now possible to use stem cells to create healthy β cells. In a study conducted at the University of Washington in the United States, Professor Jeffrey Millman, a biomedical engineering professor, led a research team to directly inject stem cells into laboratory mice with severe diabetes, causing them to transform into β cells. The results showed that within two weeks, the mice's blood sugar levels returned to normal and were maintained for up to 9 months.
Zhang Yiwen gave another example: "Professor Douglas Melton from Harvard Stem Cell Institute also found a new method last year that can increase the proportion of undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells converted into insulin-producing beta cells to 80%." (Image source: JCI Insight, 2020) Pancreatic cell screening technology is still stuck in 1970! Harvard's research has broken the impasse.
"However, directly injecting stem cells into the body does not guarantee that they will all transform into useful beta cells, so scientists still need to go through a selection process," said Zhang Yiwen. She pointed out that previous techniques in this area were still stuck in the 1970s, with a complicated process that led many clinical doctors to choose to give up.
The Harvard research, on the other hand, has successfully overcome this dilemma. Dr. Aaron Glieberman, a co-first author of the paper, said, "Our device (chip) divides the islets of the pancreas into different lines, simultaneously delivering glucose to each islet and detecting how much insulin is produced." He explained that this approach combines glucose stimulation and insulin detection, allowing for quick and actionable information for clinicians.
Harvard University Professor Parker, a specialist in bioengineering and applied physics, said, "This means that we can make significant progress in the treatment of diabetes cells. This device can make it easier to screen drugs that promote insulin secretion, test stem cell-derived beta cells, and study the fundamental biology of the pancreas." Through the collaboration of professionals from different fields, solutions for diabetes are being discussed.
The first author of this study and postdoctoral researcher at the Park Laboratory, Benjamin Pope, said, "My main interest is diabetes itself, as all the adults in my family have Type 2 diabetes. This is why I pursue a career in science. Seeing this technology being used for diabetes research and transplant screening, I feel extremely excited because it can provide cell therapy for diabetes."
Pope added that it is also a perfect combination of many different technologies. The physics behind the automated islet capture technology, microfluidics, real-time sensors, and the underlying components of biochemistry, electronics, and data collection, even software. The entire device and operating system integrate many things from different fields, and I have learned a lot in this process.
In addition to its application in diabetes, this device is also expected to be used in conjunction with other tissues and organs. Glieberman stated that we can modify the core technology to perceive the functions of a range of microphysiological systems. With the ability to continuously detect cell secretions, we hope to make the process of exploring how cells communicate using protein signals easier. This technology may ultimately provide new insights into the dynamic indicators of diagnosis and treatment for health.
"Gene editing" cures diabetes: Promising results and promising prospects. β cells are the insulin "factories" in the human body. They respond to elevated blood sugar levels by secreting insulin, signaling muscle cells to absorb and utilize glucose in the blood. β cells in diabetic patients often cannot produce enough insulin. For type 2 diabetes patients, this is due to a gradual decline in β cell function over time. For type 1 diabetes patients, this is because their immune system malfunctions and attacks and damages β cells.
In some diabetic patients, β cell failure is the result of genetic defects. Over the past decade, researchers have discovered a few specific locations in the genetic code where even small errors can disrupt the body's response or ability to produce insulin. The result is what is medically known as "monogenic diabetes."
This kind of monogenic mutation causes much more diabetes than people know. Dr. Dieter Egli, a stem cell biologist at the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University in New York, pointed out that approximately 1% to 5% of diabetes patients belong to monogenic diabetes, and this number is in the millions worldwide. Therefore, "monogenic diabetes" is not a rare disease.
For decades, replacing dysfunctional β cells has been the "holy grail" of treating all types of diabetes. Researchers have tried various methods, from transplanting pancreas to implanting β cells. However, these surgeries are costly because they involve foreign organs and cells, which the body rejects. Controlling this immune rejection reaction requires powerful immunosuppressive drugs or finding a way to "encapsulate" the transplanted β cells to deceive the immune system.
Due to monogenic diabetes being the result of a single gene defect or mutation, new gene technologies provide hope for a cure for monogenic diabetes patients, and even some type 2 diabetes patients may have the possibility of being cured. With the support of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), Dr. Dieter Egli and his research team are conducting research on monogenic diabetes, particularly for cases where the body cannot produce insulin at birth or shortly after birth. They create stem cells and use these stem cells to regenerate specific human tissues, including beta cells and nerve tissues.
Then, they used a cutting-edge technology called "CRISPR-Cas9" to correct the genetic errors that were preventing β cells from functioning properly [1]. In the past year, this research has achieved promising results as they have been able to correct mutations in stem cells and regenerate β cells that produce insulin.
The next anticipated step is to reintroduce the modified β cells into the patient's body. Since they are derived from the patient's own cells, they can be accepted by the body without the need for immunosuppressive drugs. It is expected that after transplantation, these cells will respond to blood sugar levels like normal β cells and produce insulin.
However, the scientific technology behind gene editing is so cutting-edge that it has not yet been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for human trials. In order to observe whether the new β cells can function, Dr. Dieter Egli implants modified human β cells into experimental animals with damaged β cells. People are delighted to see that by transplanting β cells into mice, mice lacking β cells can be protected from developing diabetes.
Dr. Dieter Egli says that if the corrected beta cells can be safely implanted into the body of individuals with monogenic diabetes, it would be equivalent to curing diabetes. Before gene editing technology is applied to humans, there is still a lot of work to be done. Some researchers are concerned that the techniques used to edit gene mutations may have unexpected off-target effects elsewhere. Dr. Egli states, "Using mouse models is a good start, but only by conducting trials on humans can we ultimately get the answers."
Even if Dr. Egli and other researchers in the field are able to prove the safety of this gene therapy, it may still take some time to achieve a good cost-effectiveness compared to testing strips, glucose meters, and insulin injections. Although by then, patients will no longer need to pay for insulin, oral antidiabetic drugs, and other blood glucose management supplies, personalized stem cell therapy is expected to cost tens of thousands of dollars, or even more, per patient.
According to my understanding, there are currently some scholars in the country conducting relevant research. Therefore, I am optimistic to believe that with the deepening of research, the maturity and popularization of technology, the day will come when this new therapy that may cure diabetes will step out of the laboratory and come closer to us. Let us wait and see together and continue to pay attention to good news from this field!
References: [1] Hasegawa Y, Hoshino Y, Ibrahim AE, et al. Generation of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated bicistronic knock-in Ins1-cre driver mice[J]. Exp Anim, 2016, 65(3):319-327. [2] Cao Xi, Song Lini, Zhang Yichen, et al. Preparation of MrgD gene knockout mouse model using CRISPR/Cas9 technology[J]. Journal of Capital Medical University, 2018, 39(4):517-521.
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