Potential stem cells in pancreas

Main Category: Diabetes
Article Date: 27 Aug 2004 - 22:00 PDT


Medical researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered potential stem cells in the pancreas, a finding that could lead to new treatments for diabetes.The study, published yesterday in the online edition of Nature Biotechnology, identified individual cells in the adult mouse pancreas capable of making insulin-producing "beta cells."

These beta cells make up the tissues in the organ that release insulin and help regulate the body's blood sugar levels.

It's important news for the millions of people worldwide who have Type 1 diabetes, which usually starts in childhood or adolescence, and who take insulin injections to regulate their body's blood sugar levels. The insulin shots compensate for defective pancreatic portions of tissue, or islets.

"People have been intensely searching for pancreatic stem cells for a while now, and so our discovery of precursor cells within the adult pancreas that are capable of making new pancreatic cells is very exciting," said Simon Smukler, a Ph.D. candidate in U of T's medical genetics and microbiology department. He conducted the study with Ph.D. candidate Raewyn Seaberg and their supervisor, Professor Derek van der Kooy.

More than two million Canadians have some form of diabetes, according to the national Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Insulin-dependent diabetics run the risk of developing debilitating complications like nerve damage, stroke, heart attack, kidney failure, amputation and even death.

"It is a tremendously encouraging step forward for everyone affected by juvenile diabetes," said Robert Hindle, chair of the foundation. "It is worth noting that, once again, a major step forward in diabetes research has occurred in Canada," he said, referring to home-grown advances in the field starting with the discovery of insulin in the 1920s by U of T's Frederick Banting and Charles Best.

If further study proves that Smukler's group did indeed identify stem cells, the discovery could help scientists develop better treatments for diabetics and change the way they think about cell development.

Smukler said the cells identified by the study have exhibited one of the two major properties of stem cells they generate varied cell types. In this case, the cells generated insulin-producing beta cells and - to the researchers' surprise - neurons, those cells which help the brain and nervous system function.

The existing "dogma" about cell development says there is a distinct group of cells destined to make the brain and another to make the pancreas, Smukler said.

This discovery could change all that, he added, because it shows a single cell in the pancreas can make both beta cells and nerve cells.

"It was unexpected and intriguing, and kind of neat," he said.

Smukler said he's not sure why that happens, but it's possible that there could be cells in the body that make both types of cells.

True stem cells also renew themselves, which Smukler said has yet to be proven in these "precursor" cells, although he's hoping to expand the research.

Clinical studies based on the study are a long way off, but he said the finding could affect the way diabetes is treated - particularly Type 1, where the body doesn't have enough beta cells to produce insulin.

Finding donor tissue for pancreatic cell transplants in Type 1 cases is complicated, he said. But the study could point to alternative - and plentiful - sources of insulin-producing cells.

The study was funded by the Stem Cell Network (a group of university and hospital researchers in Canada) and the Canadian Institute for Health Research.

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