A human pancreas typically contains about a billion beta cells, the primary producers of insulin. Among people with diabetes, these cells are either missing or dysfunctional, and thus scientists have been looking for ways to replenish their numbers as a possible long-term treatment or even cure for the condition. A team of researchers recently took a step closer to that reality, genetically altering another type of pancreatic cell to produce and release insulin in response to high blood sugar.
\n\nThe researchers engineered ductal cells, which—as some previous studies had found—occasionally transform into beta cells all on their own. This is an unusual phenomenon among cells in adult bodies, which tend to be firmly fixed in their identities, and it hinted to the scientists that these ductal cells would be a good place to start.
\n\nScientists previously had no clue what genes were driving this metamorphosis, said Jian Li, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School who led the recent study in Science Translational Medicine. The researchers therefore took an approach called a genetic screen, which involves breaking little bits of DNA all across the genome to see which are important for a certain biological process. It’s a bit like individually…
Original source: https://www.wired.com/