Clearing the genetic slate for curing diabetes

Braunschweig, Germany –

It is known that a wide variety of agents that are involved epigenetic manipulation of cells are potential candidates for use in “transdifferentiation” or alteration of cellular phenotype.

Histone deacetylases are critically involved in maintaining chromatin packing, and thereby transcriptionally silencing various parts of the genome. It is known that administration of histone deacetylase inhibitors can cause adult cells to express genes that should not be expressed. For example, treatment of fibroblasts with histone deacetylase inhibitors causes them to express telomerase.

In a recent paper (Tayaramma et al. Chromatin-remodeling factors allow differentiation of bone marrow cells into insulin-producing cells. Stem Cells. 2006 Dec;24(12):2858-67) it was reported that treatment of bone marrow derived stem cells under conditions conducive for islet survival, led to the in vitro generation of islet-like cells only when trichostatin A (a histone deacetylase inhibitor) was added.

This finding suggests the further investigation into small molecule chemicals that may be used to differentiate stem cells not only in vitro, but also in vivo. Indeed, this type of approach is currently used to try to induce recovery in ALS patients in clinical trials

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