美國(guó)北卡羅來(lái)納大學(xué)的研究人員將來(lái)自人類皮膚的細(xì)胞轉(zhuǎn)化為了能夠生成胰島素（用于治療糖尿病的激素）的細(xì)胞,。研究者說(shuō),，這個(gè)突破有朝一日能夠成為治療甚至治愈上百萬(wàn)糖尿病患者的良方。
這一方法包括將皮膚細(xì)胞改變?yōu)槎嗄芨杉?xì)胞,，即能夠增加其他重要或成熟細(xì)胞的種類,，誘變其轉(zhuǎn)化為具有特殊功能的細(xì)胞——本研究中是能夠分泌胰島素的細(xì)胞。
最近的許多研究表明使用“遺傳因子”（能夠控制細(xì)胞中哪一個(gè)基因處于活躍狀態(tài)的特殊蛋白質(zhì)）能夠使細(xì)胞還原為多能狀態(tài),。在這一領(lǐng)域日本京都大學(xué)的Shinya Yamanaka博士的研究處于領(lǐng)先地位,。
然而，美國(guó)紐卡斯?fàn)柎髮W(xué)（UNC）的研究是第一個(gè)宣布用這種方法轉(zhuǎn)變的細(xì)胞能夠改變?yōu)榉置谝葝u素的細(xì)胞,。研究結(jié)果公布在《生物化學(xué)雜志》（Journal of Biological Chemistry）上,。
研究者UNC的生物學(xué)教授張宜（音譯）博士說(shuō)：“這不僅表明我們能夠改變皮膚細(xì)胞,，而且我們也證明了這些細(xì)胞能夠被改變?yōu)楫a(chǎn)生胰島素的細(xì)胞，這將可能有助于糖尿病的治療。”
美國(guó)糖尿病協(xié)會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)John Buse教授說(shuō)：“當(dāng)然這還需要進(jìn)行大量的研究工作,，但是這卻能夠?yàn)樗刑悄虿』颊邘?lái)希望,。”
全世界大約有2400萬(wàn)人患有糖尿病,，當(dāng)人體無(wú)法正確產(chǎn)生或使用胰島素的時(shí)候就會(huì)產(chǎn)生這種疾病,。事實(shí)上，所有患有I型糖尿病的患者需要每天注射胰島素來(lái)控制他們的血糖水平,。
新近研究提供了一種可能的長(zhǎng)期治療方法——將能夠產(chǎn)生胰島素的細(xì)胞植入病人體內(nèi),，十分令人期待。但是這個(gè)方法也面臨著挑戰(zhàn),，即匹配器官捐贈(zèng)者的匱乏以及需要抑制病人的免疫系統(tǒng),。
張博士和其他研究者也提到了這些問(wèn)題，這些細(xì)胞可以從病人的身上來(lái)獲得,。
張博士與Buse合作從糖尿病患者身上收集皮膚樣本,。他希望這些最新的實(shí)驗(yàn)?zāi)軌蛴兄谡业揭环N新的治療甚至治愈糖尿病的方法。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Journal of Biological Chemistry，doi：10.1074/jbc.M806597200,，Keisuke Tateishi,，Yi Zhang
Generation of insulin-secreting islet-like clusters from human skin fibroblasts
Keisuke Tateishi, Jin He, Olena Taranova, Gaoyang Liang, Ana C. D'Alessio, and Yi Zhang
Increasing evidence suggests that islet cell transplantation for patients with type I diabetes holds great promise for achieving insulin independence. However, the extreme shortage of matched organ donors and the necessity for chronic immunosuppression has made it impossible for this treatment to be used for the general diabetic population. Recent success in generating insulin-secreting islet-like cells from human ES cells, in combination with the success in deriving human ES cell-like induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from human fibroblasts by defined factors have raised the possibility that patient-specific insulin-secreting islet-like cells might be derived from somatic cells through cell fate reprogramming using defined factors. Here we confirm that human ES-like iPS cells can be derived from human skin cells by retroviral expression of OCT4, SOX2, c-MYC, and KLF4. Importantly, using a serum-free protocol, we successfully generated insulin-producing islet-like clusters (ILCs) from the iPS cells under feeder-free conditions. We demonstrate that, like human ES cells, skin fibroblasts-derived iPS cells have the potential to be differentiated into islet-like clusters through definitive and pancreatic endoderm. The iPS-derived ILCs not only contain C-peptide positive and glucagon positive cells, but also release C-peptide upon glucose stimulation. Thus, our study provides evidence that insulin-secreting ILCs can be generated from skin fibroblasts, raising the possibility that patient-specific iPS cells could potentially provide a treatment for diabetes in the future.
