The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) gets into the game of stem cells, ADULT Stem Cells, together with Plureon Corporation, a biotechnology company based in Winston-Salem, N.C. that focuses on developing therapeutic applications of stem cells. The project plans to use Plureon’s technology platform to isolate adult stem cells from a type 1 diabetes patient and re-program them to generate fully functional pancreatic beta-cells. The objective is to return the re-programmed insulin-producing cells back into the patient in an autologous manner, i.e., without the need for immunosuppressive agents normally required for organ transplantation – in this manner, the patient’s own transplanted cells will be capable of glucose-dependent insulin secretion and the restoration of normal blood sugar levels.
Those of you that come here regularly you may remember a previous post about "A unique human blood-derived cell population displaying high potential for producing insulin", meaning that Plureon will be looking closer on to those cells, isolating them and eventually giving them back to the same patient (autologous) to cure the dreaded disease. If JDRF puts half a million dollars over 2 years on this then something is in the making. In the meanwhile, keeping and storing your own PBSC at a young age is probably the way to go in order to fully exploit this new technique when it comes! As an Endocrinologist and a Diabetes specialist I feel that exciting times are about to unfold in front of us. The future is here!
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