Over the last five years there have been significant advancements in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes, including the 2023 Food and Drug Administration approval of the first stem cell-derived therapy that can replace the insulin-producing human islet cells that were destroyed by the immune system. While stem cell-derived islet therapy has been highly successful in reversing Type 1 diabetes, a drawback to the treatment is that patients must take lifelong medications to suppress their immune system and prevent the rejection and destruction of the transplanted islets. Immunosuppressant medications can have significant side effects, including an increased risk of infections and cancer formation.
The lab of Jon Odorico, MD, Professor in the Division of Transplantation, may have developed a solution: stem cell-derived islets that have been genetically engineered to evade the immune system.
“Insulin-producing cells that are protected from destructive immune responses would represent a major advancement in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes and would provide a safer and more broadly applicable therapy that would abolish the need for insulin while also eliminating or reducing the need for long-term immunosuppressants,” explained Odorico.
With the help of a new one-year, $70,000 grant from UW’s Fall Research Competition that will support the effort of Odorico lab member and Cellular and Molecular Biology PhD student Caterra Leavens, Odorico’s team will be extending their research into the immune evasive stem cell-derived islets they developed by studying exactly how these islets are able to avoid recognition and attack by the immune system.
“Gaining a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of how the human immune system targets and rejects transplanted islet cells – and how our engineered human stem cell-derived islets may be protected from immune destruction – will be crucial for ultimately devising optimal strategies to ensure that genetically engineered stem cell-derived islets can in fact survive and sustain their function in patients with Type 1 diabetes,” said Odorico. “This Fall Research Competition grant is an important first step in helping us understand these processes, and we’re incredibly thankful for the support provided by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research via this award.”