Regeneration therapy for diabetes mellitus.

Regeneration therapy can be classified into three categories. The first category, in vitro regeneration therapy, makes use of transplanted cultured cells, including embryonic stem (ES) cells, pancreatic precursor cells and beta-cell lines, in conjunction with immunosuppressive therapy or immunoisolation for the treatment of patients with Type 1 diabetes. In the second type of regeneration therapy, ex vivo regeneration therapy, a patient's own cells, such as bone marrow stem cells, are transiently removed and induced to differentiate into beta-cells in vitro. However, at the present time, insulin-producing cells cannot be generated from bone marrow stem cells. In vivo regeneration therapy, the third type of regeneration therapy, enables impaired tissue to regenerate from a patient's own cells in vivo. beta-Cell neogenesis from non-beta-cells, and beta-cell proliferation in vivo have been considered in particular as regeneration therapies for patients with Type 2 diabetes. Regeneration therapy for pancreatic beta-cells can be combined with various other therapeutic strategies, including islet transplantation, cell-based therapy, gene therapy and drug therapy, to promote beta-cell proliferation and neogenesis; it is hoped that these strategies will, in the future, provide a cure for diabetes.