Type 1 Diabetes is a major health concern in the United States and other developing countries.  It occurs when the pancreas no longer produces insulin in response to increased blood glucose levels. Without frequent insulin treatment, people afflicted with type 1 diabetes become hyperglycemic, which can lead to major health problems. Beta cells are the source of insulin production in the pancreas. UCSF scientists have developed a technique utilizing small duplex RNAs to activate the expression of endogenous genes involved in Beta cell differentiation. Activation of such genes can lead to the differentiation or trans-differentiation of non-beta cells (i.e. embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, etc.) into insulin-producing beta cells. Currently, all methods of beta cell differentiation require exogenous sources of DNA (i.e. viral vectors, etc.) for gene overexpression. This technique offers a solution to conventional vector-based systems by circumventing the need to transduce/transfect cells with exogenous DNA sequence. Differentiation or trans-differentiation of donor cells into new beta cells can result in a permanent solution to type 1 diabetes.

File Number: 20870 

Web site: http://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/...

Disease: Autoimmune and Inflammation