Institute magazine
Millions of diabetics whose bodies do not produce insulin, are forced to inject themselves with this substance every day, throughout their lives. Many of them have to deal with an increased risk of developing complications such as blindness, limb necrosis, kidney failure and heart disease. In many cases, a transplant of the pancreatic tissues, where the insulin is made, could relieve them, but unfortunately, there is a shortage of transplant organs.
One of the possibilities to overcome this deficiency may be the transplantation of pancreas tissues from pig embryos (fetal tissues, may, under certain conditions, provoke a less strong rejection reaction in the recipient's body). These pig tissues are very similar to human pancreatic tissues, but the attempts in this field have not yet reached a sufficient level of success. A new study by Prof. Yair Reisner, head of the department of immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science promotes the possibility of pancreas transplants from pig embryos. The research findings are published today in the scientific journal PloS Medicine.
Prof. Reisner and the members of his research group previously found that each fetal organ has its own "time window" in which the chance of successful implantation is the greatest. Before this period of time, the cells of the young tissue, which in most cases have not yet undergone differentiation, may cause the development of cancerous tumors. After this period of time (that is, after the closing of the "window"), the cells of the embryonic tissue are already too developed, so that the immune system of the recipient's body will reject them. Prof. Reisner and the members of his research group were able to successfully transplant tissues from pig embryos into the bodies of mice lacking an immune system, whose bodies were injected with human immune cells (these mice serve as a model for the human body). In these studies, it became clear that the window of time that guarantees successful transplantation of pancreas tissue from pig fetuses is at the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, that is, when the pig fetus is 42 days old.
In the new study, the researchers transplanted the tissues from the pig embryos into mice whose bodies had intact and functioning immune systems, and whose pancreatic tissue was suppressed so that it would not produce insulin.
To aid the success of the transplantation of the porcine fetal tissue in mice, the researchers weakened the immune systems of the mice, in a similar way to the one used to treat humans in whose bodies various organs are transplanted (that is, in a way that does not excessively damage various systems in the recipient's body). In this way, they overcame the rejection of the transplant in the recipient's body. Thus it turned out that the tissues from the pig embryos worked well in the body of the mouse (which was a model for humans), and continued to produce insulin, which balanced the blood sugar level properly.
"The results of this study," says Prof. Reisner, "justify the continuation of the research in preclinical experiments in higher mammalian animal models."
The diabetes expert
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One response
I want a picture of a pig, just a pig