In type 1 diabetes (T1D), insulin-producing islets are destroyed by the immune system. Regardless of insulin treatment, people with T1D are faced with lifelong health issues. Donor islet transplantation is promising and effective, but due to donor shortage, not widely available. Therefore, our goal is to develop a therapy from a renewable source, using stem cell-derived islets (SC‑islets).
Impact
People with T1D need daily insulin injections and check their blood glucose levels multiple times a day. SC-islet transplantation has the potential to reach insulin independence, which strongly increases quality of life. More importantly, because this source of insulin-producing cells is renewable, way more people with T1D could be treated than currently possible with donor islet transplantation.
reNEW research
We aim to use SC-islets for clinical application to treat people with T1D and restore their endogenous insulin production. Currently, we are in the preclinical phase to ensure safety and efficacy of the SC-islets, before we can continue into the clinical phase. With current developments in the SC-islet research field, the step towards clinical application might come sooner than we now think.
Image description
SC-islets positioned in the outline of a pancreas, containing insulin-producing beta cells (green) and glucagon-producing alpha cells (red). They look and function similar to human pancreatic islets.
Credits
Drs. Willemijn de Vos, PhD candidate, Dr. Bahareh Rajaei, Postdoc, Islet Lab (De Koning and Carlotti) Lab, reNEW Leiden.
