Science / Medicine : Genetic Engineering Offers Hope in Diabetes

Scientists have used genetic engineering techniques to produce cells that can sense the concentration of sugar in the blood and release insulin in response, mimicking cells in the pancreas. Researchers hope that the cells can eventually be transplanted into diabetics to cure the disease, but major kinks have to be ironed out first.

Researchers from the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center reported last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they had altered cells from the pituitary gland so they can sense the body’s sugar level and release insulin to regulate it.

There has been some success transplanting insulin-secreting cells into diabetics, but obtaining the cells from cadavers is difficult and expensive. Genetically engineered cells could be grown in the laboratory in large quantities, the researchers said.

Most likely, the engineered cells would be enclosed in semipermeable membranes that would allow nutrients to reach the cells and insulin to flow into the bloodstream while protecting the cells from immune attack.