Item #7
Bone
Marrow Stem Cells Provide Insulin Source
Morphed
cells functioned as pancreas cells producing insulin in response to
glucose.
While
the researchers warn that their findings cannot be applied to treating
diabetics now, they say the results potentially offer a means of
producing unlimited quantities of functional insulin-producing cells
culled from the bone marrow of patients with the illness.
Writing
in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, study leader Dr Mehboob
Hussain says the research suggests that there is an "additional,
easily accessible source of cells that are capable of becoming
insulin-producing pancreatic endocrine cells".
Dr
Hussain and his team reached their conclusions after using a molecular
biology technique called "CRE-loxP", which allowed them to
identify and isolate bone-marrow-derived cells.
Several
research groups have reported that embryonic stem cells and cells
found in the pancreas can be converted into insulin-producing cells,
but until now no one has specifically explored the bone marrow as a
source of beta cells - the cells found in the pancreas that are
damaged or destroyed in some forms of diabetes.
Dr
Hussain and colleagues used CRE-loxP to create male mice with bone
marrow cells that produced an enhanced green fluorescent protein only
in the presence of activated insulin genes, typically found in
pancreatic beta cells.
The
bone marrow was then transplanted from the male mice into female
rodents in which bone marrow had been destroyed by radiation.
These
cells, the researchers found, functioned as insulin-producing beta
cells all containing the Y chromosome, which could only have come from
a male donor. In addition, the cells secreted insulin in response to
glucose, one of the signatures of pancreatic beta cells.
However,
the researchers highlight that only 1.7 to 3 per cent of beta cells in
the pancreas of the female mice came from transformed bone marrow stem
cells and it remains unknown which subpopulation of stem cells in the
bone marrow are the actual source of insulin-producing cells.
"We
still need to find out how well these converted cells are functioning
compared to indigenous beta cells in the pancreas. A lot more work
needs to be done.
"Nevertheless,
our study demonstrates the potential for using the bone marrow as a
source of insulin-producing cells," said Dr Hussain.
Journal
of Clinical Investigation March 2003
================================
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