DIABETES BREAKTHROUGH
New research into diabetes holds out hope of a cure
from the disabling condition.
Experimental gene therapy has cured mice of diabetes,
and although work is at a very early stage, scientists
hope the technique will one day free people from
its effects.
United States scientists introduced a gene to
the mice that enabled their livers to generate
insulin.
Professor Lawrence Chan, who led the research
at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston,
Texas,
said: "It's a proof of principle. The exciting
part of it is that mice with diabetes are 'cured'."
Liver cells were induced to become beta cells
that produce insulin and three other hormones.
Beta cells are normally found within small
bodies embedded in the pancreas, called "islets".
Transplanting islets is one of the ways diabetes
can be treated, but a compatible donor
must be found and the patient has to take
powerful
immunosuppressive
drugs.
The condition occurs when glucose sugar
is not used properly to fuel cells, but
builds
up in
the blood.
If not treated, a person with diabetes
will ultimately lapse into a coma and
die.
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