Tufts University researchers have transplanted engineered pancreatic beta cells into diabetic mice, then caused the cells to produce more than two to three times the typical level of insulin by exposing them to light. The light-switchable cells are designed to compensate for the lower insulin production or reduced insulin response found in diabetic individuals. The study published in ACS Synthetic Biology shows that glucose levels can be controlled in a mouse model of diabetes without pharmacological intervention.
Insulin is a hormone that plays a central role in precisely controlling levels of circulating glucose – the essential fuel used by cells –. Diabetes affects more than 30 million Americans according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In type II diabetes – the most common form of the disease – the cells of the body become inefficient at responding to insulin and as a consequence, glucose in circulation can become dangerously high (hyperglycemia) while the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to compensate. In type I diabetes, the beta cells, which are the only cells in the body that produce insulin, are destroyed by the immune system resulting in complete lack of the hormone.
