# Diabetic pancreas cells made to produce insulin by bone protein



## Northerner (Nov 25, 2015)

What an incredible transformation. A protein used to help bones mend can also force pancreatic cells into producing insulin. The discovery could help people with type 1 diabetes produce their own insulin without having to take daily injections.

In type 1 diabetes, beta cells in the pancreas that make insulin – the hormone that keeps our blood glucose levels at a safe concentration – are destroyed by the immune system. As a result, people with the disease have to inject themselves daily with insulin.

Now, researchers have discovered that non-beta cells in the pancreas can be transformed into insulin-producing cells, merely by exposing them to a growth factor called BMP-7.

“We are very encouraged by the simplicity of our finding,” says Juan Domínguez-Bendala, director of stem cell development at the Diabetes Research Institute in Miami, Florida.

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...ells-made-to-produce-insulin-by-bone-protein/


----------



## trophywench (Nov 25, 2015)

Pardon?  Won't the immune system just destroy them too?

Who knew there was a protein that helped bones heal?  Why don't they offer it to people with broken bones that won't heal, then?  (Pete's collar bone has been broken for 10 years or so, nobody's bothered! - vile the way it moves about ....)


----------



## Annette (Nov 25, 2015)

trophywench said:


> Pardon?  Won't the immune system just destroy them too?
> 
> Who knew there was a protein that helped bones heal?  Why don't they offer it to people with broken bones that won't heal, then?  (Pete's collar bone has been broken for 10 years or so, nobody's bothered! - vile the way it moves about ....)


My thoughts exactly. Unless they don't transform into beta cells, but just somehow manage to produce insulin as a non-beta cell...


----------



## trophywench (Nov 26, 2015)

But - wouldn't your immune system detect something 'not quite correct' was happening, and attack it anyway? - without it going berserk and eating the good bits I mean.


----------

