Diabetes In Control. A free weekly diabetes newsletter for Medical Professionals. News and information for Medical Professionals.
Technology to use GLP-1 to make stem cells into beta cells. Boston-based ViaCell Inc. announced Monday plans to use its stem cell technology to develop a treatment for diabetes.
The company announced its plans on the heels of a report by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital who used a hormone from a patient’s intestine, called glucagon-like peptide-1, that appears to make stem cells into insulin-producing cells.
The hormone transformed islet stem cells into insulin-producing pancreatic-beta cells, details of which will be reported in the August issue of the journal Endocrinology.
The company will be doing preclinical work on a few different approaches at treating diabetes with stem cells, and possibly even the MGH method. The company will be using stem cells from pancreatic islets, umbilical cord blood and bone marrow, among others.