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Transcript
Narrator:
The Diabetes Research Institute presents a series of reports on the latest progress in cure-focused research – promising discoveries aimed at restoring natural insulin production in those living with diabetes.
Reporter:
The Greek word “cyto” means cell. So, when Dr. Antonello Pileggi spends his day focused on cytoprotection, he’s working to protect cells.
Islet cells, in particular.
These are clusters of cells in the pancreas which produce insulin. At the Diabetes Research Institute, scientists are using islets to restore natural insulin production in patients with type 1 diabetes.
But, in clinical trials, the DRI has learned that after islets are placed in a patient, some of the cells die.
Pileggi and his team are trying to keep them healthy and strong.
Pileggi:
“We can provide the strength. It’s like going to the gym so you will be fittest. And that is what we are trying to do.”
Reporter:
Islets need strength, because they have quite a fight to take on. The patient’s immune system sees the cells as foreign, and tries to destroy them.
Pileggi:
“They use a lot of tools to deliver their killing messages to destroy the foreign body, which is very good in a normal environment when you are trying to defeat infections, but in this case we need to prevent this from happening.”
Reporter:
Patients take drugs to suppress the immune system. But the islets need additional protection.
Pileggi:
“What we are trying to achieve is rendering the cells stronger so that any attempts of killing is hampered to a certain extent so that the cells can continue working and this will provide the long term function that we are seeking.”
Reporter:
One way Pileggi and his team are trying to provide that … is by giving the cells more oxygen. Islets need a lot of it. But, soon after transplantation, they often don’t get enough.
Pileggi:
“Once we implant it into a new environment, you need blood vessels in order to bring oxygen and vital nutrients, because they are vital. You have to do something to help them to breathe.
Reporter:
He says the DRI is trying several approaches – including physical, chemical and molecular.
Pileggi:
“Our ultimate goal is to combine different treatments that will provide strength to the cells that are implanted, better way to adapt to a new environment and less vulnerable to any stress.”
Reporter:
If successful, this research would have a direct impact on patients, by increasing the number of islets available.
Currently, scientists use a large number of islet cells for each transplant, because they assume many cells will die.
If fewer die, scientists would transplant fewer. So, more would be available for other patients.
Pileggi:
“We want to have the least number of insulin producing cells implanted into a recipient that can do the job in a perfect manner, sustain function over time.”
Reporter:
He says research in this field has been showing steady progress.
Pileggi:
“It’s quite exciting right now because as we move the threshold, as we move our goals to a higher end, to a higher standard, there is more that has to come from the research and we are actually being very faster, much faster than we were in the past because there is a much better way of sharing information, the technology is advancing very quickly and we have access now to much more sophisticated tools for our daily operation that we didn’t have in the past.
“I foresee very exciting times to come in the near future.”
Narrator:
This has been a production of the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation.
For more information, or to show your support for the Diabetes Research Institute, call 1-800-321-3437.
You also may donate online at diabetesresearch.org.
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