Beta cell regeneration – Hope for T1 Diabetics

I was at a wedding this evening and as our creator would have it my path crossed with another functional medicine minded individual with a Type 1 Diabetic family member!  One of the tidbits I picked up from this blessed encounter was the role the spleen plays in beta cell regeneration.. So you all can probably guess one of the first things that I did upon returning home was head to the research portals to see what I could dig up.. Well this was the first one I came across (while I was munching on leftover chili)

Here is the abstract:

Approaches Towards Endogenous Pancreatic Regeneration

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1783561/
Banerjee M, Kanitkar M, Bhonde RR. Approaches Towards Endogenous Pancreatic Regeneration. The Review of Diabetic Studies. 2005;2(3):165-176. doi:10.1900/RDS.2005.2.165.

The phenomenon of pancreatic regeneration in mammals has been well documented. It has been shown that pancreatic tissue is able to regenerate in several species of mammal after surgical insult. This tissue is also known to have the potential to maintain or increase its β-cell mass in response to metabolic demands during pregnancy and obesity. Since deficiency in β-cell mass is the hallmark of most forms of diabetes, it is worthwhile understanding pancreatic regeneration in the context of this disease. With this view in mind, this article aims to discuss the potential use in clinical strategies of knowledge that we obtained from studies carried out in animal models of diabetes. Approaches to achieve this goal involve the use of biomolecules, adult stem cells and gene therapy. Various molecules, such as glucagon-like peptide-1, β-cellulin, nicotinamide, gastrin, epidermal growth factor-1 and thyroid hormone, play major roles in the initiation of endogenous islet regeneration in diabetes. The most accepted hypothesis is that these molecules stimulate islet precursor cells to undergo neogenesis or to induce replication of existing β-cells, emphasizing the importance of pancreas-resident stem/progenitor cells in islet regeneration. Moreover, the potential of adult stem cell population from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, liver, spleen, or amniotic membrane, is also discussed with regard to their potential to induce pancreatic regeneration.

Did you catch that?  Look at several factors which play a role in the regeneration…

“Various molecules, such as glucagon-like peptide-1, β-cellulin, nicotinamide, gastrin, epidermal growth factor-1 and thyroid hormone, play major roles in the initiation of endogenous islet regeneration in diabetes.”

Looks like I have the next few days cut out looking more in-depth as to what gets those things out of balance, what is needed to return those molecules to a homeostasis, what tests available to determine the status of those molecules in our system… my list will grow!

Anyway – just had to share as it’s another confirmation of hope for T1’s – when our perspective is changed from symptom management to system restoration our health takes on a whole new meaning!  Hope you all are excited about our upcoming new year – I know I am!  That’s it for now…