Stem cells: The therapeutic role in the treatment of diabetes mellitus

Abstract

The unlimited proliferative ability and plasticity to generate other cell types ensures that stem cells represent a dynamic system apposite for the identification of new molecular targets and the production and development of novel drugs. These cell lines derived from embryos could be used as a model for the study of basic and applied aspects in medical therapeutics, environmental mutagenesis and disease management. As a consequence, these can be tested for safety or to predict or anticipate potential toxicity in humans. Human ES cell lines may, therefore, prove clinically relevant to the development of safer and more effective drugs for patients presenting with diabetes mellitus. These findings substantiate our method of encapsulation as opposed to the traditional formation strategies, for example those described by Cameron et al, where embryoid body formation is required (Hu 2003; Cameron 2006). These systems are probably used because they are known to generate three germ layers characteristic of embryo development, but EB formation is not an essential requirement in the production of insulin. © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.