Can Genetic Engineering Cure Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease in which the body is not able to control the level of sugar in the blood. There are two types of diabetes: type 1, which affects primarily children, and type 2, which affects primarily adults, although there have been an increasing number of type 2 diabetes diagnoses in children and adolescents in recent years. Approximately 1.5 million people in the US have type 1 diabetes, and approximately 15 million people have type 2 diabetes.

There currently is no cure for either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Both types are managed via blood glucose testing, and maintaining a healthy weight by getting enough exercise, and diet. Some individuals with diabetes also manage their symptoms with insulin shots or oral medication, or both.

Although there is no cure for diabetes right now, scientists working in the field of genetic engineering and gene therapy have made considerable progress towards that goal. One such example is research currently being conducted at the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic, in which genetically modified pigs are being bred for the purpose of providing pig tissue for implantation in humans. Similar research is being carried out at the Spring Point Project in New Richmond, Wisconsin. In both cases, researchers are breeding pigs that produce large quantities of insulin-producing "islet cells" that could eventually be used to treat diabetics.

What is gene therapy? What is genetic engineering? How does it work? Genetic engineering is a process in which a gene is taken from one source and introduced into a new organ or tissue, which will then exhibit a new characteristic or feature. In the case of diabetes, researchers have investigated the possibility of using human (cadaver, adult, embryonic) islets (e.g. cell clusters) for transplantation, with little success. The use of pig islets have presented more possibilities for two reasons: 1) pig and human glucose levels are highly similar, and pig insulin is currently used to treat diabetics, and 2) because pigs are already reared and bred on a large scale, such knowledge can be used to develop large-scale facilities to produce pig islets.

Genetic Engineering and Xenotransplantation, by Shane T. Grey: http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/grey.html

Diabetes Cure Might be Homegrown, by Josephine Marcotty: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/38277299.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUqEiaDUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU