Type 1 diabetes is a condition that often rids cells of the natural ability to make insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. It arises when the immune system attacks cells in the pancreas, the organ responsible for keeping blood sugar at a healthy level. Patients with type 1 diabetes require daily insulin injections to keep their glucose levels from getting too high.

Scientists from several research institutions, including MIT and Harvard University, have developed a new technology that can help prevent the immune system from attacking insulin-producing cells.

Daniel G. Anderson, a researcher from MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, led a team of experts to find a way to infuse Type 1 diabetics with beta cells capable of triggering a production of insulin from within the body.

The cells were developed by Dr. Doug Melton and his team at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) using stem cells.

Encapsulated Cells

One of the biggest challenges the researchers had to face was to implant the insulin-producing cells without provoking an immune response from the patient's body.

They discovered that a chemical derivative made from algae known as triazole-thiomorpholine dioxide (TMTD) can be used to encapsulate the cells in order to protect them from attacks by the immune system.

Anderson and his colleagues administered the encapsulated cells into the body of diabetic mice to test their efficacy.

They observed that the cells triggered a production of insulin as soon as they were implanted in response to the amount of sugar in the blood of the animals. The cells also kept blood sugar at a controllable level for the duration of the study, which was 174 days.

Primate bodies were also implanted with the new technology without cells. The researchers found that the device was absorbed well by the test subjects for about six to eight months, and did not trigger any adverse effects.

"We are excited by this new technology and are working hard to advance it to the clinic," Anderson said. "These papers represent seven or eight years of work."

Practical Application

According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, an estimated three million people in the United States suffer from Type 1 diabetes, a condition that causes the immune system to attack the beta cells produced by the pancreas, which are capable of regulating blood sugar.

Diabetics depend on daily injections of insulin as their primary form of treatment. However, the practice has been proven to be only partially effective at helping regulate their metabolism.

When beta cells are allowed to function normally, they can help regulate the precise amount of insulin that a patient's body needs. While injections can help control blood sugar levels, they are not as effective as the body's own natural insulin production. This leaves patients vulnerable to complications such as heart disease, loss of limbs or blindness.

Scientists believe that patients with Type 1 diabetes may significantly benefit from implanted beta cells. If these cells can be protected from attacks by the immune system and respond to accordingly to the level of blood sugar in a patient's body, they can reduce the occurrences of complications brought on by the disease.

The multi-organizational studies are featured in the journals Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology.