A New Hope for Diabetes Treatment: Insulin Injections May No Longer Be Necessary

On the evening of the 25th, Cell online published the results of a clinical study conducted by Professor Deng Hongkui from Peking University and Changping Laboratory, along with Professor Shen Zhongyang and Researcher Wang Shusen from Tianjin First Center Hospital. The study reveals that the first patient with Type 1 diabetes, who received an islet transplant using chemically reprogrammed cells, has regained endogenous and physiological blood glucose regulation. The patient was able to stop insulin injections 75 days after the transplant, and has since maintained stable, self-regulated blood sugar for over a year, achieving clinical functional cure.

The Islet Transplant Breakthrough

The islet is an irregular cluster of cells scattered throughout the pancreas. Type 1 diabetes is caused by the destruction of pancreatic β-cells, leading to an absolute deficiency of insulin. The key to curing Type 1 diabetes lies in replenishing β-cells. In 2007, Professor Deng's research team made an initial breakthrough by developing a technique to induce human pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to differentiate into pancreatic β-cells. After more than a decade of effort, they successfully achieved the chemical reprogramming of pluripotent stem cells into islet cells. In 2023, the team and their collaborators successfully verified this new treatment approach in non-human primates, from chemical reprogramming-induced stem cells to islet differentiation, followed by transplantation.

The Groundbreaking Clinical Study

In June 2023, an exploratory clinical study was approved to investigate the use of islet cells derived from human chemically induced pluripotent stem cells (CiPS) to treat Type 1 diabetes. Professor Deng’s team, in collaboration with Professors Shen Zhongyang and Wang Shusen’s team, conducted the treatment on a patient with 11 years of Type 1 diabetes who had not responded to existing treatments.

The research team obtained somatic cells from the patient’s fat tissue, chemically induced them into pluripotent stem cells, and then differentiated them into islet cells suitable for transplantation.

Monitoring and Ensuring Safety of the Transplanted Cells

For this pioneering transplant treatment, the research team further monitored the safety and controllability of the transplanted cells within the human body. According to Wang Shusen, the islet cells transplanted into the patient were detectable using ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment, and their signal strength was different from that of ordinary muscle or other body fluids. This was the first time that transplanted islet cell clusters had been continuously observed in a clinical setting using these devices, greatly enhancing the safety of stem cell-based clinical research.

A New Pathway for Cell-Based Treatments

Professor Deng Hongkui stated that the initial success of using chemically reprogrammed cells for clinical treatment of diseases suggests that chemical reprogramming technology could become a universal foundational technology for efficiently producing various functional cell types. This opens new pathways for cell therapies in treating major diseases.