Scientists in Australia have made an exciting discovery that could help people living with type 1 diabetes. In a recent study, they found a way to “reboot” certain cells in the pancreas so they start producing insulin again. And the surprising part? They used a cancer drug to do it.
Type 1 diabetes happens when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Without insulin, the body can’t properly manage blood sugar levels, so people with this condition need daily insulin injections to survive. There’s been a lot of research into ways to bring back the pancreas’s ability to make insulin naturally, but it’s a tricky process.
Here’s what the researchers did:
They took two drugs—one is a cancer drug, and the other is a natural compound taken from a Chinese herb. When used together, these drugs helped special cells in the pancreas change into cells that can make insulin.
To understand how this works, it helps to know a little bit about the pancreas. It’s made up of different types of cells. Some of them help with digestion, and others, like beta cells, produce hormones like insulin. In people with type 1 diabetes, these beta cells are mostly gone.
But here’s the cool part: the pancreas still has a type of cell called ductal progenitor cells. These cells don’t make insulin, but they come from stem cells and have the potential to transform into other types—kind of like blank slates. The researchers found that when they treated these cells with the two-drug combo, the cells woke up and started turning into beta-like cells that could make insulin again.
One of the drugs they used is called an EZH2 inhibitor, which is normally used in cancer treatment. The other, triptolide, is known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. When used together for just 48 hours, the combination activated the ductal cells. Even better? These reprogrammed cells started responding to sugar and producing insulin, just like normal beta cells do.
This is still early-stage research—what scientists call a "proof-of-concept" study. That means it's not ready for doctors to use just yet. More research is needed to make sure the treatment is safe and works well in real-life situations.
Still, it’s a hopeful sign. If this method proves successful in further studies, it could lead to a new way of treating type 1 diabetes—one that helps the body make its own insulin again, without the need for daily injections.
The research was published in the journal Clinical Epigenetics.
Source:
https://baker.edu.au/news/media-releases/beta-reactivation
https://clinicalepigeneticsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s…
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