"Novel Drug Combination Induces Human Beta-Cell Regeneration" -Regina Schaffer
A novel combination of two distinct classes of molecules has been shown to induce proliferation in adult human beta cells at a rate of 5 to percent in in vitro and 2 percent in in vivo
transplant models, a rate far exceeding pancreatic beta-cell replication rates from other experimental drugs, according to findings published in Cell Metabolism. The two drugs — a DYRK1A inhibitor combined with a transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta superfamily inhibitor — worked synergistically to induce “previously unattainable” rates of human beta-cell proliferation in human islet donors, human stem cell-derived beta cells and stem cells from people with type 2 diabetes, according to Andrew F. Stewart, MD, director of the Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The findings support the possibility that restorative treatment of beta-cell deficiency in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes is achievable, said Dr. Stewart. “This is, for us, the next stop on the train to elimination of diabetes.”
—Andrew Stewart, MD, Director of the Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Institute, Professor, Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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