BioCentury
ARTICLE | Translation in Brief

Stomaching insulin production

Making β cells with gastric grit

March 24, 2016 7:00 AM UTC

A Harvard University study suggests antral stomach cells share enough features with pancreatic β cells that they can be coached to play the part. The authors think direct reprogramming of this renewable, accessible stomach cell population could create autologous cell therapies to restore regulated insulin production in Type I diabetes patients.

Advances in the in vitroproduction of human stem cell-derived β cells have brought therapeutic replacement of pancreatic tissues closer to the clinic than ever before. But it is not yet clear what cell types are the optimal starting point for making large quantities of safe therapeutic cells, nor whether the cells can survive patient immune systems once implanted (see "Islets of Hope." BioCentury Innovations (Jan. 7, 2016))...