Bioengineers at the University of Calgary have successfully grown insulin producing cells in a lab, marking a major breakthrough in diabetes research.
The team of scientists hope to eventually transplant lab grown, insulin producing cells directly into the bodies of patients with Type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes makes the body unable to produce enough insulin, requiring those suffering from the disease to inject themselves with the hormone.
In theory, the transplant would eliminate the need for daily insulin injections by patients who suffer from the disease.
"This transplant procedure, developed in Edmonton, is the best thing to come in 20 years to treat type one diabetes," Dr. Leo Behie, the professor of chemical engineering in charge of the research project, told CTV Thursday.
The study is significant in the battle against diabetes but there are still many steps to be taken, including clinical trials. The tests that Behie and his team have done in his lab so far are very encouraging.
"In many cases people are off insulin and they have good sugar controls in their blood with no constrains in terms of eating. That is a big deal," said Behie.
The research stems from a sponsored project by New York-based Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF), that set up 16 researchers from 13 universities around the world.
The researchers are trying to find the cause of the Type 1 disease that affects more than 19-million people worldwide.
"The people who receive the transplants, they have no doubt about it, that they would call this a cure, but I think in this consideration we have to be careful of the word cure. This is more of a treatment that increases hugely your quality of life," Behie said.
Behie and his team developed their conclusions by establishing bioreactor protocols for producing large quantities of pig pancreatic insulin-producing cells.
They hope this will lead to the large-scale production of islet-like structures which contain insulin-producing cells.
Researchers concluded that these cells may be suitable for treating individuals with Type 1 diabetes.
Donna Lillie, of the Canadian Diabetes Association, said the research presents a real possibility for people with Type 1 diabetes that they can get rid of their multiple daily injections.
"Dr. Behie's all-Canadian team has brought us one more step towards potentially securing a large supply of insulin-producing pancreatic cells for transplantation into individuals with Type 1 diabetes," Lillie said.
University of Alberta scientists transplanted cells into Type 1 diabetes sufferers in 2000, freeing some from injections over the last five years.
But the approach they used required pancreas cells from as many as three donor cadavers which created a supply headache. Even with the supply, only 10 per cent were able to stop taking insulin injections.
"There are not nearly enough of these human islets to meet the demand of those who would like to have this transplantation procedure," Behie said.
Behie says his plan to produce cloned cells on a large scale in computer-controlled bioreactors would "get rid of this supply bottleneck."
Behie said his goal is to provide Type 1 diabetes sufferers with a reliable supply of cells that eventually could be given through booster shots.
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