Latest Pancreas Stories

 A tissue-repair-and-regeneration pathway in the human body, including wound healing, is essential for the early lung to develop properly. Genetically engineered mice fail to develop lungs when two molecules in this pathway, Wnt2 and Wnt2b, are knocked out. The findings are described this week in Developmental Cell."We wanted to know the answer to a seemingly simple question: What is required to generate the lung in mammals?" asked senior author Edward Morrisey, PhD, Associate Professor...

Researchers have found a way in mice to convert another type of pancreas cell into the critical insulin-producing beta cells that are lost in those with type I diabetes. The secret ingredient is a single transcription factor, according to the report in the August 7th issue of Cell, a Cell Press journal.When the gene called Pax4 is forced on in pancreatic alpha cells, the cells change their identity to become beta cells, the researchers found. The body in turn senses a loss of alpha cells,...

Scientists identified a master regulator gene for embryonic development of the pancreas, putting researchers closer to a possible cure for type1 diabetes.  The disease occurs when the immune system attacks insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas, usually destroying them beyond repair before the illness is diagnosed.Besides having important implications in diabetes research, the study offers new insights into congenital birth defects involving the pancreas and biliary system by...

Scientists have identified a master regulator gene for early embryonic development of the pancreas and other organs, putting researchers closer to coaxing stem cells into pancreatic cells as a possible cure for type1 diabetes.Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report their findings in the July 21 Developmental Cell.Besides having important implications in diabetes research, the study offers new insights into congenital birth defects involving the pancreas and biliary...

For years researchers have been searching for a way to treat diabetics by reactivating their insulin-producing beta cells, to no avail. Now, they may be one step closer. A protein, whose role in pancreatic development has long been recognized, has been discovered to play an additional and previously unknown regulatory role in the development of cells in the immature endocrine system. These cells ultimately give rise to pancreatic islet cells, which include beta cells.By carefully defining...

A number of medical research institutions are testing an artificial pancreas on human subjects, a doctor at Connecticut's Yale-New Haven Hospital said Thursday. Dr. Stuart Weinzimer said an artificial pancreas would change the lives of people with diabetes. It's not only monitoring the blood sugars, but giving the appropriate amount of insulin every minute to control those sugars, Weinzimer said. An artificial pancreas will link the continuous sensors that monitor sugar levels in the body...

Pancreatitis is often a fatal condition, in which the pancreas digests itself and surrounding tissue.  Scientists have previously found that alcohol can trigger the condition by combining with fatty acids in the pancreas, which leads to an excessive release of stored calcium ions.  Once calcium ions enter cell fluid in the pancreas it activates digestive enzymes and damages the cells.The team, in collaboration with the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan, have now identified channels...

 Understanding the molecular signals that guide early cells in the embryo to develop into different organs provides insight into ways that tissues regenerate and how stem cells can be used for new therapies. With regenerated cells, researchers hope to one day fill the acute shortage in pancreatic and liver tissue available for transplantation in cases of type I diabetes and acute liver failure.Previous studies on pancreas and liver development have focused on individual molecular signals...

A Japanese scientist claims that humans may be able to harvest transplant organs from sheep within a decade.Professor Yutaka Hanazono told London's Times Online that he his sheep has been successfully modified to develop a spare pancreas hidden in its underbelly.Although the only viable donor for the spare pancreas would be a diabetic chimpanzee, Professor Hanazono said it represents an opportunity to provide harvestable human organs in sheep and ending the ethical debate over the use of...

A U.S. scientist says he's created a technique that can detect the early development of pancreatic cancer, which now has a 5 percent five-year survival rate. The optical technology developed by Northwestern University Professor Vadim Backman uses an analysis of adjacent tissue in the duodenum to detect the cancer. Scientists said the promising new technology might help raise the extremely low survival rate of pancreatic cancer patients by aiding early detection. The technique uses...