As cases of type 2 diabetes progress, people get increasingly worse at making their own insulin, a hormone that controls levels of sugar in the blood. The usual explanation is that the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas are dying. But according to a study published today (September 13) in Cell, the beta cells of several breeds of diabetic mice don’t die at all. Instead, they de-differentiate into a less specialized cell type.
If a similar mechanism is occurring in humans, it might be possible to ease the progression of diabetes by finding new ways of preventing dedifferentiation, the authors suggest.
“This piece of work is not only thorough and methodologically superb but highly original and relevant,” said Ele Ferrannini, a diabetes biologist from the CNR (National Research Council) in Pisa, Italy. “The implications are that beta cell dysfunction is potentially reversible, to an extent that probably is still underappreciated.”
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