Leo Behie, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Calgary, and his team of researchers have managed to grow cells that they believe will produce insulin once implanted into the pancreases of people with type one diabetes.

Living with diabetes

One of these possible transplant patients is Chantel Deboer, a second-year criminology student at Carleton University. She has been receiving insulin injections for 14 years and recently started to get her insulin through a pump. "The pump is like an outside pancreas," Deboer says.

Chantel Deboer's pump maintains a base insulin level. During meals, she pushes a button for more insulin.

The pump is attached to a tube that is actually inserted into a diabetic’s body and works to keep the person’s glucose at a baseline level that is established by the person’s doctors.

The pump itself is usually worn all the time but can be detached when cleaning the area where the tube is inserted.

The device allows Chantel to increase the amount of insulin she receives while eating, helping her body to break down glucose in the food and maintain a healthy blood sugar level.

Before the pump, she lived on a rigid schedule, getting up, eating and snacking at prescribed times during the day. "Being a student it makes it a lot harder," Deboer says.

The equipment that keeps Deboer's diabetes under control costs about $500 a month. Even though she uses the pump, she still tests her glucose levels five or six times a day and changes the dressing where the pump is attached to her body every three days.

Deboer says that the pump has made her life a lot easier but admits that there are still some drawbacks, like just finding somewhere to put the pump while she goes through her everyday activities.

"I look at clothes and wonder where I’m going to stick the pump."

Deboer says she she is able to lead a fairly normal life, but would like to not have to worry about her diabetes and blood sugar levels. She says she would agree to a transplant using Behie's new technology, once it has been approved for use on people.

The process of discovery

So far Behie’s work is showing promise to take away Deboer's worries about her diabetes. Currently a transplant option is available that allows the body to produce its own insulin, but Behie's work could eliminate long wait times that keep the treatment out of reach for many.

"The human cells, after cultured in our media, expand in numbers and actually do produce insulin in response to glucose," says Prof. Michael Kallos, a member of Behie’s team.

The researchers are working with cells from neonatal pigs and human cells from organ donors.

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"We started working with neural stem cells, and built our expertise around those, and then applied it to the pancreatic system," Kallos says.

The research team has seen the human cells divide and grow, and is now expanding that research in other areas including some animal testing.

If these cells can be successfully transplanted and tested in animals, they might also benefit humans. Kallos, in an e-mail interview, did stress that animal testing would take between two and five years, so this possible treatment for diabetes is still years into the future.

If the testing is successful, people with type 1 diabetes may have cells transplanted without having to suffer through the bottleneck that currently exists.

The Edmonton Protocol

Under the current transplant approach, known as the Edmonton Protocol, islets from cadavers are transplanted into the pancreas of an individual with type 1 diabetes. These islets, once implanted, begin to produce the insulin that the diabetic needs to break down glucose, just like a normal pancreas would. It takes three cadavers to provide enough islets for one patient.

"The problem is the limited supply of donor tissue, and the growing number of diabetes patients," Kallos says.

A transplant for Deboer would mean no more insulin pump or other medications.

The insulin producing cells could be implanted into the pancreas instead of the cadaver islets but still have the same effect.

If the cure could be grown in laboratories rather than having to depend on the availability of cadaver islets, more surgeries could be completed.

The Stem Cell Network, funded by Industry Canada, supports Behie’s work and is very enthusiastic about his discovery.

"His results are very encouraging and show progress along the path towards the development of a therapy for diabetes," says Sophie Chargé, the Manager of Scientific Affairs and Training for the network.

But she notes it will still take years before the benefits reach those with diabetes.

Related Links University of Calgary press release on Behie's work Canadian Diabetes Association website Health Canada information on diabetes Public Health Agency of Canada guide book on diabetes