| Summary: | 碩士 === 國防醫學院 === 微生物及免疫學研究所 === 99 === Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. The main reason to develop this
disease is the patients’ beta cells attacked by their own immune systems and result in
the beta cells producing little or no insulin and making patients with hyperglycemia.
Pancreas transplantation is the most effective therapy for type 1 diabetes, but there are
just a few patients who could be donated. However, most people with type 1 diabetes
must take daily injections of insulin due to dysfunction of β-cell. Therefore, trying to
find new sources for treating type 1 diabetes instead of pancreas transplantation is
developing and one of the most attractive researches is using stem cell as cell therapy.
There are many studies to focus on stem cells for curing diabetes. The
investigators used the stem cells from pancreatic ducts, livers, guts or bone marrow.
However, the sources are still limited and the application is restricted. Recent studies
have pointed out that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolates from human umbilical
cord, namely Wharton’ s jelly, are easily acquired and useful. They are multipotent stem
cells and have been shown to differentiate into various lineages. In this project, we used
three kinds of transcription factors during β-cell development to differentiate
mesenchymal stem cells into β-cell. These transcription factors are crucial for β-cell
differentiation, including PDX-1 (Pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1), Ngn3
(neurogenin3), and MafA (v-maf musculoaponeurotic fibrosarcoma oncogene homolog
A). In the previous study, we have confirmed PDX1+ MSCs could control the blood
glucose in diabetic rats. In this study, we used these three transcription factors to
regulate MSCs differentiating into insulin-secreting cells by lentiviral transduction. The
results showed these mesenchymal stem cells could differentiate into insulin-producing
cells. We will use NOD mice as the animal model to investigate the effect of these
insulin-producing cells. We hope this approach will create a new therapy for type 1
diabetes.
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