Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2011) 26 S5.3

ECE2011 Symposia Novel therapies in type 1 diabetes (3 abstracts)

Stem cells as a treatment option in diabetes

Julie Kerr-Conte


University of Lille, Lille, France.


Cell therapy is an emerging, realistic treatment for diabetes. First we will quickly review alternative stem cell approaches including autologous Hematopoetic stem cells (CEB Couri JAMA 2009) and allogeneic Mesenchymal stem cells (Prochymal, Osiris Therapeutics, Inc.: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00690066) as an attempt to cure recent onset type 1 diabetes, before focusing on β cell replacement therapies including an update on composite islet grafts (islets plus stem cells), or islets derived in vitro and in vivo from human embryonic stem cells (Viacyte Kroon Nat Med 2008), and induced pluripotent stem cells human (iPS). The proof of principle that type 1 diabetic patients’ cells can give rise to iPS lines which subsequently differentiate into insulin secreting human islets has been demonstrated (Maehr R/Melton D PNAS 2009). The advantages and disadvantages of each pluripotent source with regards to regulatory and ethical issues, teratoma formation, genomic stability will be presented. Immunoisolation strategies of pluripotent cells will attempt to allow both transplantation with minimum to no immunosuppression, and confinement in a closed chamber to reduce teratoma formation. Theracyte chambers (Baxter USA) previously used in rodent islet transplantation (Sharma Diabetologia 2006) successfully allow human fetal and embryonic derived islet survival and function but not human islets in rodent models (Itkin-Ansari P Transplantation 2009). Finally, we will discuss the strategies and progress that companies are making towards pushing pluripotent stem cells ahead to clinical application.

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