Swiss researchers have successfully reprogrammed human fat cells into beta cells, capable of releasing insulin.
This is another step forward for cell reprogramming. Martin Fussenegger, professor of biotechnology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and his team have successfully reprogrammed human fat cells into beta cells capable of producing insulin. Their innovative technique was published in the journal Nature Communication.
Mimic maturation
It was by using cells of fatty tissue, taken from a 50-year-old man, that Swiss scientists succeeded in obtaining these beta cells. Present in the pancreas, they are the ones that are deficient in patients with type 1 diabetes.
To succeed in transforming fat cells into pancreatic cells, the researchers have developed a technique that allows the expression of certain genes of interest to be modulated over time. This genetic reprogramming targets in particular the Ngn3, Pdx1 and MafA proteins.
The method is based, among other things, on the use of vanillic acid. “It is this acid that directs the genetic program; by modulating its concentration, the expression levels of these factors change, explains to Why actor Prof. Fussenegger. The timing and quantity of these factors are extremely important for cell transformation ”. During the process of natural maturation, the concentration of these proteins indeed evolves over the days according to a complex mechanism, difficult to reproduce in the laboratory until now.
“The old protocol was more expensive, less reproducible, less efficient in terms of transformation and the cells were less sensitive”, specifies the scientist. For Martin Fussenegger, this new method is a real advance in the field of genetic techniques, it would transform three out of four cells into functional beta cells.
A future treatment for diabetes?
Cells treated with this technique look like natural beta cells in every way. They contain, like their fellows, black granules, reserves of insulin, which they are able to secrete in the presence of glucose. The only limit for now: the amount of hormone produced is not as high as that of natural pancreatic cells.
Martin Fussenegger now hopes to find the necessary funding to continue this research and consider testing in humans. According to the researcher, this cell therapy could be considered in the clinic within ten years.
Beta cell transplants have already been performed. But these transplants required the taking of an immunosuppressive treatment in order to avoid rejection. A problem that this new approach could solve: “With our beta cells, there will probably no longer be any need to use these drugs since the cells come from the patient himself”, concludes Prof. Fussenegger.
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