Diabetes under the skin?

University of Toronto researchers transplanted healthy pancreatic cells under the skin to produce insulin for blood glucose regulation. They evaluated the area under the skin surface for the possibility that it might be a good place to treat type 1 diabetes (T1D).

In this new study led by researchers in the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), the team transplanted healthy pancreatic cells under the skin to see if they would produce insulin for blood glucose control.

They feel since the skin is easily accessible and there is less need for invasive procedure to access the site that it might be a more optimal place to transplant these cells. The typical site for transplantation is in the liver but it is hard to get them a good place and the environment isn’t optimal so the new cells can be damaged which leads to loss of function.

There is a large area under the skin that can be used so it can support transplantation of a lot of islet cells which is important for insulin production to meet needs for glucose control.

Additional information and ongoing research to this new transplant approach