There is greater hope for a cure for type 1 diabetes based on research published this week in the online version of the journal Nature. Scientists discovered that alpha cells found in the pancreas, which do not produce insulin, can convert into insulin-producing beta cells.

"The exciting part here is it gives us more evidence that reprogramming [cells] could be a viable strategy [for a cure]," says Andrew Rakeman, a scientific program manager at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, who co-funded the University of Geneva study. "Since animals can do it on their own that means it can be done safely."

Researchers wanted to answer the question, what would happen to the pancreas if all of the beta cells, which produce insulin, were suddenly removed. Researcher Pedro Herrera and his team found that over time, the beta cells could slowly recover, and the experimental mice would regain their ability to regulate their own blood sugar.
Previous research has shown that this regeneration was possible, but only when some beta cells were left. In this case, all of the beta cells were eradicated, so the researchers had to find out where the new cells were coming from.

"What's different here, what this model uniquely allowed us to see, is that the alpha conversion only happened when you killed 100 percent of the beta cells," says Rakeman, who oversaw the study but did not participate.

Researchers were able to kill only the mice's beta cells, creating an environment not yet studied. In some cases they killed all of the cells and in others, only some. Regeneration only occurred when all of the cells were dead.

"It's not the method of the killing, but the extent of the killing," Rakeman explains.

The scientists are unsure how the alpha cells are able to reprogram themselves to become beta cells. The alpha cells that reprogrammed themselves were mature cells, which was unexpected, says Rakeman.

"There's a great value to this work...in understanding biology and cell plasticity," he says. "Previously it was thought that once cells had differentiated and matured, they would not have this ability to switch fates, but we're learning that even fully differentiated cells are much more plastic than we thought."

While the effects of beta-cell annihilation were studied only in mice, Rakeman says there is promise of a similar effect in people, leading to a diabetes cure.

"The hope is that a similar process is possible in people, which is a question that needs to be asked," he says. "What's really exciting is that [this regeneration] is a normal process; there was no manipulation to the alpha cells for conversion."

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