[acb-diabetics] interesting article about type 1 male

[Patricia LaFrance-Wolf]

This article originally posted 23 December, 2010 and appeared in
<http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/diabetes-in-control-newsletters/type-1-dia
betes> Type 1 Diabetes,
<http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/diabetes-in-control-newsletters/553> Issue
553 

 



"Grow Your Own Transplant" May be Possible for Men with Type 1 Diabetes


Men with Type 1 diabetes may be able to grow their own insulin-producing
cells from their testicular tissue....


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Their laboratory and animal study is a proof of principle that human
spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) extracted from testicular tissue can morph
into insulin-secreting beta islet cells normally found in the pancreas. The
researchers say they accomplished this feat without use of any of the extra
genes now employed in most labs to turn adult stem cells into a tissue of
choice.

Lead investigator, G. Ian Gallicano, Ph.D., an associate professor in the
Department of Cell Biology and director of the Transgenic Core Facility at
Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) states that, "No stem cells,
adult or embryonic, have been induced to secrete enough insulin yet to cure
diabetes in humans, but we know SSCs have the potential to do what we want
them to do, and we know how to improve their yield." 

Given continuing progress, Gallicano says his strategy could provide a
unique solution to treatment of individuals with Type 1 diabetes (juvenile
onset diabetes). Several novel therapies have been tried for these patients,
but each has drawbacks. Transplanting islet cells from deceased donors can
result in rejection, plus few such donations are available. Researchers have
also cured diabetes in mice using induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells --
adult stem cells that have been reprogrammed with other genes to behave like
embryonic stem cells -- but this technique can produce teratomas, or tumors,
in transfected tissue, as well as problems stemming from the external genes
used to create IPS cells, Gallicano says.

Instead of using IPS cells, the researchers turned to a readily available
source of stem cells, the SSCs that are the early precursors to sperm cells.
They retrieved these cells from deceased human organ donors. Because SSCs
already have the genes necessary to become embryonic stem cells, it is not
necessary to add any new genes to coax them to morph into these progenitor
cells, Gallicano says. "These are male germ cells as well as adult stem
cells."

"We found that once you take these cells out of the testes niche, they get
confused, and will form all three germ layers within several weeks," he
says. "These are true, pluripotent stem cells."

The research team took 1 gram of tissue from human testes and produced about
1 million stem cells in the laboratory. These cells showed many of the
biological markers that characterize normal beta islet cells. They then
transplanted those cells into the back of immune deficient diabetic mice,
and were able to decrease glucose levels in the mice for about a week --
demonstrating the cells were producing enough insulin to reduce
hyperglycemia.

While the effect lasted only week, Gallicano says newer research has shown
the yield can be substantially increased.

Presented  at the American Society of Cell Biology's 50th annual meeting in
Philadelphia

 

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