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Is Transforming Stem Cells to Pancreatic Beta Cells Still the Holy Grail for Type 2 Diabetes?

  • Pathogenesis of Type 2 Diabetes and Insulin Resistance (RM Watanabe, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Diabetes is a progressive disease affecting millions of people worldwide. There are several medications and treatment options to improve the life quality of people with diabetes. One of the strategies for the treatment of diabetes could be the use of human pluripotent stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells. The recent advances in differentiation of stem cells into insulin-secreting beta-like cells in vitro make the transplantation of the stem cell-derived beta-like cells an attractive approach for treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. While stem cell-derived beta-like cells provide an unlimited cell source for beta cell replacement therapies, these cells can also be used as a platform for drug screening or modeling diseases.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Section of Islet Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

      Sevim Kahraman, Erin R. Okawa & Rohit N. Kulkarni

    2. Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

      Erin R. Okawa

    3. Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

      Rohit N. Kulkarni

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    1. Sevim Kahraman
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    2. Erin R. Okawa
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    3. Rohit N. Kulkarni
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    Correspondence to Rohit N. Kulkarni.

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    Sevim Kahraman, Erin R. Okawa, and Rohit N. Kulkarni declare that they have no conflict of interest.

    Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

    This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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    This article is part of the Topical Collection on Pathogenesis of Type 2 Diabetes and Insulin Resistance

    Sevim Kahraman and Erin R. Okawa contributed equally to this work.

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    Kahraman, S., Okawa, E.R. & Kulkarni, R.N. Is Transforming Stem Cells to Pancreatic Beta Cells Still the Holy Grail for Type 2 Diabetes?. Curr Diab Rep 16, 70 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-016-0764-0

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