This technology is a method for generating glucose-responsive insulin-producing cells in the gut, which can be used to treat metabolic disorders such as diabetes.
The standard treatment for diabetes and related disorders involves constant blood sugar monitoring and repeated insulin injections. Unfortunately, the need for a closely regulated diabetes management regimen, as well as rising costs of medication, results in non-compliance and subsequent disease-related complications. Current research focuses on stem cell-derived insulin production, which, although reducing the downsides of blood monitoring, still requires lifelong immune suppression. There is a need for autologous insulin production in diabetes patients without the introduction of foreign cells.
This technology is a method that enables the conversion of endocrine progenitor cells in the gut into glucose-responsive insulin-producing cells. The combination of Foxo1 and Notch inhibition in the gut results in an expansion of endocrine progenitor cells and their reprogramming into cells capable of producing insulin in response to glucose. This conversion is further enhanced by Rock inhibition.
This technology has been validated in mouse models.
Patent Pending (US 20220088010)
IR CU19065, CU19157
Licensing Contact: Cynthia Lang