Scottish researchers say they have successfully found ways of boosting transplants to improve treatments for patients with diabetes.
The researchers say they have successfully reprogrammed cells from the pancreas to produce insulin.
Insulin producing cells from the pancreas – the islets – are already used in transplants. But not enough survive a single transplant of the organ – meaning that patients must have a double transplant.
The researchers, who have reported their findings in Diabetes, say that work could mean a single pancreas transplant was enough to help a patient free of insulin injections.
The project involved the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh together with the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service.
Researcher John Casey, of Edinburgh University, said: "Developing previously unusable cells to produce insulin means that fewer donors would be needed, which would make a huge difference to patients waiting for transplants operations."
And Professor Kevin Docherty, of Aberdeen University, said: "This is an example of how reprogramming, – the ability to change one cell type into another – can have a huge impact on the development of cell based therapy for diabetes and many other diseases."
Diabetes August 2013
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