Researchers at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute say they've discovered a way to make pancreatic cells produce insulin using existing cancer drugs.
So they’re repurposing surviving pancreas cells to produce insulin like the destroyed beta cells used to, but what are they doing about the autoimmune response? Will my immune system just kill the new insulin-producing cells as well?
So they’re repurposing surviving pancreas cells to produce insulin like the destroyed beta cells used to, but what are they doing about the autoimmune response? Will my immune system just kill the new insulin-producing cells as well?
Presumably not, since the repurposed cells won’t have the same surface antigens that the immune system targets for destruction.