TRANSPLANTS of pig cells have cured diabetes in rats without the need for immunosuppressive drugs. The finding was a complete surprise to the researchers, who have yet to explain it.
Marc Hammerman鈥檚 team at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri, transplanted cells taken from the developing pancreas in pig embryos into rats whose insulin-producing pancreatic cells had been destroyed. Half the rats were given immunosuppressants, half not. Even without drugs, the pig cells survived for more than 40 weeks, the team say in the online American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism.
After trials in primates, human trials might be next, though Hammerman still doesn鈥檛 know how the cells survive. 鈥淔rom a practical point of view, if it works, it doesn鈥檛 matter why,鈥� he says.
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