Resetting the clock in diabetes

A Columbia University team has evidence that pancreatic islet b cells do not die in mouse models of type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes but rather dedifferentiate into stem cell-like precursors.¹ The findings could explain why diabetes rapidly resolves in obese patients who undergo bariatric surgery and could argue for developing strategies to turn these dedifferentiated cells back into b cells to restore insulin secretion in diabetic patients.

b Cells secrete insulin, which promotes the packaging of sugar into glycogen and results in the build-up of energy reserves. In both forms of diabetes, the inability to produce insulin leads to numerous metabolic, vascular and neurological problems...