Pancreatic Stem Cell Program:
Can Human Pancreatic Stem Cells repair or replace insulin deficiency associated with diabetes?
Diabetes affects 17 million Americans and costs $100 billion in direct medical expenditures annually. In people with diabetes, the body either does not produce sufficient insulin levels or does not properly respond to insulin. Diabetes can lead to heart disease or stroke, kidney failure, visual impairment, and nerve damage.
StemCells' Pancreatic Program is concentrating its efforts on Type-I diabetes, also known as juvenile or insulin-dependent diabetes, which is usually first diagnosed in young persons. It is an autoimmune disease in which the body's own immune system destroys the “beta cells” of the pancreas (pancreatic islet cells) that normally produce insulin.
Current treatments control, but do not cure, Type-I diabetes. Treatments for Type-I diabetes include daily insulin and lifestyle modifications to control blood glucose levels. The major risk of insulin treatment is excessively low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), which can result in fainting, spasms or seizures. Pancreatic transplant can be a “cure” that allows patients to live without insulin injections, but it is a risky operation, and requires potent immunosuppressive drugs, which can have serious side effects.
Transplantation of isolated islet cells can reduce the need for insulin injections and is a less invasive surgical procedure than pancreatic transplant. Cells are transplanted with a large needle inserted through the abdominal wall into the portal vein, a large blood vessel of the liver. Clumps of cells then become lodged in small vessels of the liver. The complications of islet cell transplant include bleeding, portal hypertension, as well as side effects from immunosuppressant drugs.
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What have we accomplished so far?
Our goals are to identify, isolate, and culture pancreatic stem and progenitor cells, and to test their therapeutic potential. We have used StemCells' tried and true search engine and our library of known and proprietary monoclonal antibodies to identify antibodies that recognize a rare subset of human pancreatic cells that may be pancreatic stem/progenitor cells. We have filed a patent application on these critical monoclonal antibodies.
Finally, StemCells established a collaboration with Dr. Seung Kim of Stanford University to pursue other avenues to identify insulin-producing cells. Dr. Kim's laboratory is studying the developmental biology of insulin-producing cells.
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What does the future hold?
StemCells scientists are developing in vivo transplantation models to test the biological potential of the candidate human pancreatic stem/progenitor cells and their ability to rescue diabetic mice. We are optimizing culture conditions to expand these rare cells with the goal of defining a renewable source of insulin-producing cells.
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Summary of Progress
- We have identified markers on the surface of a rare population of human pancreatic stem-like cell, a candidate pancreatic stem/progenitor cell.
- We have identified a human insulin-producing cell.
- We are testing of a candidate mouse pancreatic stem/progenitor cell in culture and in animal models.
- We are testing a candidate human pancreatic stem/progenitor cell in small animal models.
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Pancreatic Stem Cell Program: What does the future hold?
StemCells scientists have been working to improve their in vivo transplantation models to test the biological potential of the candidate human pancreatic stem/progenitor cells and their ability to rescue diabetic mice. We also intend to test culture conditions to optimize the expansion of these rare cells with the goal of defining a renewable source of insulin-producing cells.
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Pancreatic Stem Cell Program: Summary of Progress
- We have identified markers on the surface of a rare population of human pancreatic stem-like cell, a candidate pancreatic stem/progenitor cell.
- We have identified a human insulin-producing cell.
- We have begun testing of a candidate mouse pancreatic stem/progenitor cell in culture and in animals.
- We have begun to test a candidate human pancreatic stem/progenitor cell in small animal models.
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