Researchers have made a significant first step with newly engineered biomaterials for cell transplantation that could help lead to a possible cure for Type 1 diabetes, which affects about 3 million Americans.
Georgia Tech engineers and Emory University clinicians have successfully engrafted insulin-producing cells into a diabetic mouse model, reversing diabetic symptoms in the animal in as little as 10 days.
The research team engineered a biomaterial to protect the cluster of insulin-producing cells – donor pancreatic islets – during injection. The material also contains proteins to foster blood vessel formation that allow the cells to successfully graft, survive and function within the body.
“It’s very promising,” said Andrés Garcia, Georgia Tech professor of mechanical engineering. “There is a lot of excitement because not only can we get the islets to survive and function, but we can also cure diabetes with fewer islets than are normally needed.”
The research article – a partnership with Emory’s Dr. Robert Taylor and Dr. Peter Thule that was funded in part by theJDRF, the leading global organization funding Type 1 diabetes research – will be published in the June issue of the journal Biomaterials.
Organizations such as JDRF are dedicated to finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes, a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas produces little or no insulin, a hormone that allows the transport of sugar and other nutrients into tissues where they are converted to energy needed for daily life.
Pancreatic islet transplantation re-emerged as a promising therapy in the late 1990s. Patients with diabetes typically find it difficult to comply with multiple daily insulin injections, which only partially improve long-term outcomes. Successful islet transplantation would remove the need for patients to administer insulin. While islet transplantation trials have had some success, and control of glucose levels is often improved, diabetic symptoms have returned in most patients and they have had to revert to using some insulin.
Unsuccessful transplants can be attributed to several factors, researchers say. The current technique of injecting islets directly into the blood vessels in the liver causes approximately half of the cells to die due to exposure to blood clotting reactions. Also, the islets – metabolically active cells that require significant blood flow – have problems hooking up to blood vessels once in the body and die off over time.
Georgia Tech and Emory researchers engineered a hydrogel, a material compatible with biological tissues that is a promising therapeutic delivery vehicle. This water-swollen, cross-linked polymer surrounds the insulin-producing cells and protects them during injection. The hydrogel containing the islets was delivered to a new injection site on the outside of the small intestine, thus avoiding direct injection into the blood stream.
Once in the body, the hydrogel degrades in a controlled fashion to release a growth factor protein that promotes blood vessel formation and connection of the transplanted islets to these new vessels. In the study, the blood vessels effectively grew into the biomaterial and successfully connected to the insulin-producing cells.
Four weeks after the transplantation, diabetic mice treated with the hydrogel had normal glucose levels, and the delivered islets were alive and vascularized to the same extent as islets in a healthy mouse pancreas. The technique also required fewer islets than previous transplantation attempts, which may allow doctors to treat more patients with limited donor samples. Currently, donor cells from two to three cadavers are needed for one patient.
While the new biomaterial and injection technique is promising, the study used genetically identical mice and therefore did not address immune rejection issues common to human applications. The research team has funding from JDRF to study whether an immune barrier they created will allow the cells to be accepted in genetically different mice models. If successful, the trials could move to larger animals.
“We broke up our strategy into two steps,” said Garcia, a member of Georgia Tech’s Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. “We have shown that when delivered in the material we engineered, the islets will survive and graft. Now we must address immune acceptance issues.”
The Latest Bing News on:
Diabetes mellitus type 1
- Access to Healthcare Through Languages: Latinos and Type 1 Diabeteson January 18, 2021 at 6:35 am
If being a teenager is tough, imagine being a Latino teenager with type 1 diabetes.” Silly, I know. All teenagers struggle, some mightily. Yet, I know that having diabetes had an impact on my ...
- Global Type-1 Diabetes Treatment Market Is Estimated to Register a CAGR of 7.9%. by 2025 | Research by MRFRon January 13, 2021 at 3:28 am
Diabetes refers to a category of metabolic diseases characterized by high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is caused ...
- Virbac and SymbioCellTech Sign Exclusive Option Agreement to Develop Novel Technology for Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes in Companion Animalson January 12, 2021 at 9:13 am
Type-1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is a disease in which the islet cells of the pancreas fail to produce the essential hormone, insulin. Currently, the standard therapy for T1DM in companion animals ...
- ADA Updates Standards of Medical Care for Patients with Diabetes Mellituson December 31, 2020 at 4:00 pm
General recommendations for treatment of type 2 diabetes are shown in Figure 1. In the 2016 update, the ADA revised the order and discussion of diagnostic tests to make it clear that no one test ...
- What is type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM)?on December 23, 2020 at 3:59 pm
Henry EB, Patterson CC, Cardwell CR. A meta-analysis of the association between pre-eclampsia and childhood-onset Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Diabet Med. 2011 Aug. 28(8):900-5. [Medline].
- A 100% Natural Treatment for the Type 2 Diabeteson December 23, 2020 at 3:23 am
Diabetes Mellitus is a health condition that can limit patients from ... Let’s discuss the differences between the two types of diabetes. The patients with Type 1 Diabetes do not harbor the ability to ...
- OZEMPIC® is now listed on British Columbia PharmaCare for adults living with type 2 diabeteson December 16, 2020 at 8:24 am
Ozempic ® is available for the once-weekly treatment of adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus to improve glycemic control. 1* Ozempic ® can also be used with metformin, sulfonylurea ...
- Interleukin-1–Receptor Antagonist in Type 2 Diabetes Mellituson August 20, 2020 at 7:50 am
The expression of interleukin-1–receptor antagonist is reduced in pancreatic islets of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and high glucose concentrations induce the production of ...
- Current Understanding of Feline Diabetes Mellituson August 18, 2020 at 1:33 am
The current classification divides diabetes mellitus into type 1, type 2, and other specific types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an uncommon cause of diabetes in cats based on histologic studies and ...
- 10-Year Follow-up of Intensive Glucose Control in Type 2 Diabeteson August 13, 2020 at 9:54 am
During the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS), patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who received ... In patients with type 1 diabetes, the Diabetes Control and Complications ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Diabetes mellitus type 1
The Latest Bing News on:
Cure for type 1 diabetes
- Diabetes Devices and Drugs Market to Score Past US$ 231909.8 Million Valuation by 2023, Owing to R& - PharmiWeb.comon January 18, 2021 at 3:17 am
Diabetes may give rise to other conditions related to the eyes, nervous system, heart, kidney, and skin. There are several types of insulin used in the treatment of diabetes that include, rapid-acting ...
- Low-Carb Diet and Type 2 Diabetes: Short-Term Adherence Associated with Remissionon January 15, 2021 at 2:19 am
Compared with a normal diet, adherence to a low carbohydrate diet (LCD) increased diabetes remission by 32% in patients with type 2 diabetes at 6 months and helped them achieve large and meaningful ...
- Monoclonal Antibody Induces Weight Loss in Type 2 Diabeteson January 13, 2021 at 8:02 am
A human monoclonal antibody that failed in treating muscle-wasting disease may find new life as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetes drug, according to results of a phase II clinical trial. In 75 ...
- Global Type-1 Diabetes Treatment Market Is Estimated to Register a CAGR of 7.9%. by 2025 | Research by MRFRon January 13, 2021 at 3:28 am
Diabetes refers to a category of metabolic diseases characterized by high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is caused ...
- Why Dr. Denise Faustman Isn’t Deterred by Skeptics of Her Type 1 Diabetes Cure Researchon January 12, 2021 at 11:39 am
Denise Faustman and her research on a low-cost diabetes cure are quite controversial — now she's working on COVID-19.
- Virbac and SymbioCellTech Sign Exclusive Option Agreement to Develop Novel Technology for Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes in Companion Animalson January 12, 2021 at 8:22 am
SymbioCellTech, LLC (SCT), a biotechnology company in Salt Lake City, pioneering stem cell therapy for diabetes, today announced they have entered into an option agreement with Virbac ( VIRP), the ...
- Adocia Files Patent on a Hydrogel Scaffold for Cell Therapy in the Treatment of Type 1 Diabeteson January 10, 2021 at 4:30 pm
Adocia has developed an innovative hydrogel to host and protect pancreatic cell implants This hydrogel scaffold containing pancreatic cells could restore glycemic control without requiring insulin ...
- REMD Biotherapeutics Completes Enrollment and Announces Top-line Results of a Phase 2 Clinical Study of Volagidemab (REMD-477) in Patients with Type 1 Diabeteson January 7, 2021 at 1:00 pm
REMD Bio completed enrollment and announced top-line results in a phase 2 clinical study of volagidemab (REMD-477) in patients with type 1 diabetes.
- Electronic Treatment For Diabetes?on December 31, 2020 at 4:00 pm
No more fake pancreas! We don’t know, though, if the results would apply to type 1 diabetes as it sounds like the mice all had type 2.
- What is the first-line treatment for type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM)?on December 23, 2020 at 3:59 pm
Insulin injected subcutaneously is the first-line treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). The different types of insulin vary with respect to onset and duration of action. Short-, intermediate ...