Open AccessPresent and future cell therapies for pancreatic beta cell replenishment
Author(s) -
Juan DomínguezBendala,
Camillo Ricordi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
world journal of gastroenterology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.427
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 2219-2840
pISSN - 1007-9327
DOI - 10.3748/wjg.v18.i47.6876
Subject(s) - transplantation , induced pluripotent stem cell , islet cell transplantation , cell therapy , embryonic stem cell , reprogramming , islet , biology , regeneration (biology) , stem cell , beta cell , immunosuppression , pancreas , directed differentiation , bioinformatics , medicine , insulin , immunology , cell , endocrinology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , biochemistry , gene
If only at a small scale, islet transplantation has successfully addressed what ought to be the primary endpoint of any cell therapy: the functional replenishment of damaged tissue in patients. After years of less-than-optimal approaches to immunosuppression, recent advances consistently yield long-term graft survival rates comparable to those of whole pancreas transplantation. Limited organ availability is the main hurdle that stands in the way of the widespread clinical utilization of this pioneering intervention. Progress in stem cell research over the past decade, coupled with our decades-long experience with islet transplantation, is shaping the future of cell therapies for the treatment of diabetes. Here we review the most promising avenues of research aimed at generating an inexhaustible supply of insulin-producing cells for islet regeneration, including the differentiation of pluripotent and multipotent stem cells of embryonic and adult origin along the beta cell lineage and the direct reprogramming of non-endocrine tissues into insulin-producing cells.