Retraining human GI cells provides new hope for curing diabetes

A new study has revealed that switching off a single gene, researchers have converted human gastrointestinal cells into insulin-producing cells.

The scientists at Columbia University's Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center said that people have been talking about turning one cell into another for a long time, but until now they hadn't gotten to the point of creating a fully functional insulin-producing cell by the manipulation of a single target.

The finding raises the possibility that cells lost in type 1diabetes may be more easily replaced through the reeducation of existing cells than through the transplantation of new cells created from embryonic or adult stem cells.

The scientists were able to teach human gut cells to make insulin in response to physiological circumstances by deactivating the cells' FOXO1 gene.

The Columbia researchers Dr. Accili and postdoctoral fellow Ryotaro Bouchi first created a tissue model of the human intestine with human pluripotent stem cells. Through genetic engineering, they then deactivated any functioning FOXO1 inside the intestinal cells. After seven days, some of the cells started releasing insulin and, equally important, only in response to glucose.

The study was published online in the journal Nature Communications.