Abstract

Recent advance in diabetes therapy: pancreatic beta cell regeneration approaches

Author(s): Tesemma Sileshi Chala & Getnet Yimer Ali

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by elevated blood glucose. According to WHO, more than 400 million people live with diabetes and the number is expected to rise to 592 million by 2035. Improved glycemic control decreases the risk of development of microvascular and macrovascular complication and disease progression. The currently available treatments options are either associated with an increased incidence of adverse effects or fail to prevent progression of diabetes-associated complication. As core pathologic condition in diabetes is either β-cell destruction or insufficiency, recent research focuses mainly on improving glucose homeostasis by regeneration of this key cell type. These cellular based therapeutic approaches are focused on the transplantation of the islet cells or β-cell, stimulation of human β-cell proliferation, in vivo β-cell regeneration and protect β-cells from apoptosis. However, none of these approaches are in clinical use due to a shortage of donor; the inefficient technique of β-cell generation and β-cell in adult humans does not grow sufficiently. This review focuses on current progress in β-cells regeneration approaches for the treatment of diabetes mellitus.