SHAFAQNA SCIENCE- Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine successfully converted human gastric stem cells into insulin-secreting cells that respond to blood glucose levels, just like healthy pancreatic beta cells would.
Early experiments in mice showed that ordinary pancreatic cells could be converted into insulin-secreting beta cells by activating three specific transcription factors, proteins that regulate gene expression.
In the study, the researchers extracted gastric stem cells from human subjects using a non-surgical procedure called endoscopy.
They converted these cells into beta-like cells, called gastric insulin-secreting cells (GINS), and grew them into clusters known as organoids. Surprisingly, within 10 days, the organoids became sensitive to glucose and began secreting insulin in response.
Source: interestingengineering