Insulin and Embryonic Stem Cells

Insulin and Embryonic Stem Cells

A recent study by researchers at Brown University has concluded that embryonic stem cells induced to form insulin-producing Islet-like cell clusters do not actually produce new insulin. The news is reported on Genetic Engineering News from a press release.

The researchers examined mouse ESCs that were being cultured to produce insulin. They added human and bovine insulin to the culture, and then demonstrated that the insulin the mouse cells were producing was in fact human or bovine insulin from the culture.

While this seems like a setback in using ESCs to help treat diabetes, the authors did find that in previous studies some mouse islet-like cells derived from mouse embryonic stem cells did have the capacity to produce small amounts of insulin. Dr. Ian Wilmut, the scientist who cloned Dolly (he was not a member of the research team), was quoted as saying that “These results provide clarification of a very important issue.” Even if the immediate results do not seem promising, understanding what is not happening is very important in deriving new experiments and research.