bookwormstory.social

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.