By Deborah Huso Scientists may be getting closer to finding a cure for type I diabetes if new research conducted in mice plays out in humans. Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., have found they can convert spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) from the testes into insulin-secreting beta islet cells normally found in the pancreas. And they can do so with greater ease than has been done in the past using adult stem cells.
Researchers, led by Dr. G. Ian Gallicano, associate professor at Georgetown University Medical Center, conducted their studies in mice, taking one gram of tissue from human testes and producing about one million stem cells in the laboratory. The cells they produced mimicked many of the biological markers that characterize normal beta islet cells. The team then transplanted those newly produced stem cells into immune deficient diabetic mice and found they could decrease glucose levels in the mice for about a week.
Gallicano presented his research at the American Society of Cell Biology's 50th annual meeting in Philadelphia Sunday.

"We can get longer than a week now," Gallicano told AOL Health. "You can get all stem cells to secrete insulin, so if you're a mouse with diabetes, you can be cured." However, Gallicano points out that adult stem cells have never yet reached the point of being able to secrete enough insulin to cure type I diabetes in humans. He thinks SSCs are going to succeed where adult stem cells have failed.

"The data we have is pretty promising," he adds. "We're not looking to treat diabetes. We have insulin shots for that. The goal is to cure it."

How close are researchers to that cure?

Gallicano is hopeful, particularly since the other promising thing about his team's work is that doctors may be able to transplant a man's own SSC's into the pancreas, meaning there will be no concerns about cell rejection from donors.

"The number one goal right now is to get these cells to secrete enough insulin to cure diabetes in humans," Gallicano says. "We don't have the cure yet, but yet is the key word here. We're working on it."

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