Is Transforming Stem Cells to Pancreatic Beta Cells Still the Holy Grail for Type 2 Diabetes?

Curr Diab Rep. 2016 Aug;16(8):70. doi: 10.1007/s11892-016-0764-0.

Abstract

Diabetes is a progressive disease affecting millions of people worldwide. There are several medications and treatment options to improve the life quality of people with diabetes. One of the strategies for the treatment of diabetes could be the use of human pluripotent stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells. The recent advances in differentiation of stem cells into insulin-secreting beta-like cells in vitro make the transplantation of the stem cell-derived beta-like cells an attractive approach for treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. While stem cell-derived beta-like cells provide an unlimited cell source for beta cell replacement therapies, these cells can also be used as a platform for drug screening or modeling diseases.

Keywords: Diabetes; Differentiation; Human pluripotent stem cells; Induced pluripotent stem cells; Pancreatic beta cells.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Clinical Trials as Topic
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / etiology
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / therapy*
  • Gene Editing
  • Humans
  • Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / cytology
  • Insulin-Secreting Cells / cytology*
  • Stem Cell Transplantation
  • Stem Cells / cytology*