Dr. Kulkarni's research focuses on investigating signaling pathways impacting growth and function
of pancreatic islet cells with the long - term goal of improving therapeutic approaches for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes and obesity - associated conditions.
The Emory Transplant Center has conducted clinical trials since 2003 transplanting
human pancreatic islet cells into patients with Type I diabetes.
These sentinel units will be removed at specific time points and examined histologically to provide early insight into the progression of engraftment and maturation
into pancreatic islet cells including insulin - producing beta cells.
Novocell has pioneered technologies for the development of functioning
pancreatic islet cells from human embryonic stem (hES) cells in vivo.
Diabetes researchers are considering various replacements for insulin injections: Transplanting
new pancreatic islet cells that make insulin, coaxing the patient's own islets to regenerate, or treating diabetics early in the disease with immune - suppressing therapies to prevent their body from destroying the rest of their pancreatic islets.
One is a relatively unknown company, CyThera, set up less than 2 years ago in San Diego, that claims to have nine embryonic stem cell lines and is currently trying to
develop pancreatic islet cells for treatment of diabetes.
The piece mentioned that some of the funds would support ViaCyte and our efforts to develop and test the VC - 01 ™ product, comprised of an implantable device that holds precursor cells that upon implant in a patient are expected to differentiate to
become pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin and other blood sugar - regulating hormones.
But progress has been slow because scientists don't know the recipe for stimulating immature stem cells to differentiate into the highly
specialized pancreatic islet cells, the cells that are destroyed in Type 1 diabetes.
Based on animal experimentation, PEC - 01 progenitor cells have the capacity to both self - renew; making more cells, and differentiate into mature,
functional pancreatic islet cells.
Alpha Lipoic Acid Monograph Alternative Medicine Review 1998 (Aug); 3 (4): 308 — 311 ~ FULL TEXT Acting as a potent antioxidant, DHLA was found to protect
rat pancreatic islet cells from destruction by reactive oxygen species.
Caplan ER, Peterson ME, Mullen HS, Quesenberry KE, Rosenthal KL, Hoeffer HL, Moroff SD: Diagnosis and treatment of insulin -
secreting pancreatic islet cell tumors in ferrets: 57 cases (1986 - 1994).
In addition to looking at mouse models of diabetes, the researchers also showed that exposure of
human pancreatic islet cells — both from healthy donors and from patients with Type 1 diabetes — to fasting - mimicking diet in a dish stimulated insulin production.
When implanted, PEC - 01 cells are expected to differentiate
into pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin and other hormones that regulate blood sugar, while the Encaptra device is designed to protect the cells from immune destruction.
Either scenario may occur for genetic reasons due to inherited defects
of pancreatic islet cells, cellular insulin receptors, or both.
In addition to iPS cells derived from progeria - patients, the researchers successfully applied their method to adult mesenchymal stem cells, which can differentiate into a variety of cell types, including adipocytes, osteoblasts, chondrocytes, cardiomyocytes, and, as described lately, beta -
pancreatic islets cells.
In view of the fact that the beta - amyloid protein that forms fibrils in Alzheimer's disease is toxic to neurons, we have investigated whether amylin fibrils could be toxic to
pancreatic islet cells.
Michael Stitzel, Ph.D., researches human
pancreatic islet cells and the genetic and environmental bases of type 2 diabetes.
(8) The study found that giving genetically engineered recombinant insulin to type 2 diabetics with certain genetic susceptibility can trigger their bodies to produce antibodies that destroy their insulin producing cells (
pancreatic islet cells).
An insulinoma is a tumor of the insulin - secreting cells of the pancreas (i.e.,
the pancreatic islet cells).
Either scenario may also occur due to refractoriness or exhaustion of
the pancreatic islet cells and / or cellular insulin receptors due to obesity and diets overly rich in simple carbohydrates and fat.