Item #4
One
Injection Could Result In Cure For Diabetes
Scientists
at the University of Bath have converted liver cells into pancreas
cells in a study that could revolutionize the treatment of the
disease.
Research by British
scientists could offer millions of people with diabetes the chance to
treat the condition with just one injection.
Diabetes occurs when the
pancreas contains defective cells that do not produce sufficient
quantities of the hormone insulin. A shortage of insulin means cells
do not absorb enough glucose to provide fuel and leaves excessive
amounts of glucose in the bloodstream.
This can be treated with
changes to diet and increasing exercise, and in more serious cases
insulin injections - although many diabetics suffer long-term
complications.
The experiments offer
the potential of an alternative treatment, using just one injection,
which could overcome these complications.
The results are
published in a research paper in Current Biology magazine.
The team at the
university's Department of Biology and Biochemistry used
transdifferentiation, involving converting one type of cell to
another.
They succeeded in
converting liver cells to pancreas cells in a research project funded
by the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council.
Professor Jonathan
Slack, leading the team, says if further research is positive, this
method could be used as a treatment for diabetes within 10 years.
He said: "The
results from these experiments have been very encouraging. This is the
first step in the development of what could ultimately provide a cure
for people suffering from diabetes, but there is a lot more work to
do."
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DID
YOU KNOW:
In
Patients with type 2 diabetes, hypertension based on self-measurement
of blood pressure in the morning Drug-related
morbidity and mortality have been estimated to cost more that $136
billion a year in United States. These estimates are higher than the
total cost of cardiovascular care or diabetes care in the United
States. A major component of these costs is adverse drug reactions
(ADE).
JAMA April 15,
1998;279(15):1200-5
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