Novel Therapeutics:
Bile-to-Islets: Making Each Patient Their Own Insulin Cell Supply
Jorge A. Bezerra, M.D.
- Robert L. Moore Chair in Pediatrics
- Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics
- Pediatrician-in-Chief, Children’s Medical Center
- UT Southwestern Medical Center
This program turns a small bile sample into living, insulin-secreting “islet” cells, with no genetic engineering. The process guides the cells through natural development stages until they behave like pancreatic insulin cells and form 3D islet-like clusters. In the laboratory, these clusters make and release human insulin and contain insulin-positive cells on staining. After transplant into immunodeficient mice, the cells engraft and produce measurable human insulin after a glucose challenge. The most direct first use is helping people who lose pancreatic function after surgery for chronic pancreatitis, with a longer-term path to diabetes once immune protection and delivery are optimized.
