We’re another step closer to reducing the need for round-the-clock insulin injections to manage diabetes after a new study showed how insulin-producing cells could be regenerated in the pancreas.
The breakthrough was made by getting pancreatic ductal progenitor cells – that give rise to the tissues lining the pancreas’s ducts – to develop to mimic the function of the β-cells that are usually ineffective or missing in people with type 1 diabetes.
Researchers, led by a team from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia, investigated a new use for drugs already approved by the FDA that target the EZH2 enzyme in human tissue. Ordinarily, this enzyme controls cell development, providing an important biological check on growth.
I read this paper last week when a click-bait article on this subject was posted. The research itself is very promising and I was glad to read it but I can’t stand these articles that make it sound like we’ll have a cure soon.
Gotta generate those clicks so it’s gotta either be a miracle or the worst thing ever, we don’t tolerate nuance around here. /s obviously