Beta cell regeneration – Hope for T1 Diabetics

I was at a wedding this evening and as our creator would have it my path crossed with another functional medicine minded individual with a Type 1 Diabetic family member!  One of the tidbits I picked up from this blessed encounter was the role the spleen plays in beta cell regeneration.. So you all can probably guess one of the first things that I did upon returning home was head to the research portals to see what I could dig up.. Well this was the first one I came across (while I was munching on leftover chili)

Here is the abstract:

Approaches Towards Endogenous Pancreatic Regeneration

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1783561/
Banerjee M, Kanitkar M, Bhonde RR. Approaches Towards Endogenous Pancreatic Regeneration. The Review of Diabetic Studies. 2005;2(3):165-176. doi:10.1900/RDS.2005.2.165.

The phenomenon of pancreatic regeneration in mammals has been well documented. It has been shown that pancreatic tissue is able to regenerate in several species of mammal after surgical insult. This tissue is also known to have the potential to maintain or increase its β-cell mass in response to metabolic demands during pregnancy and obesity. Since deficiency in β-cell mass is the hallmark of most forms of diabetes, it is worthwhile understanding pancreatic regeneration in the context of this disease. With this view in mind, this article aims to discuss the potential use in clinical strategies of knowledge that we obtained from studies carried out in animal models of diabetes. Approaches to achieve this goal involve the use of biomolecules, adult stem cells and gene therapy. Various molecules, such as glucagon-like peptide-1, β-cellulin, nicotinamide, gastrin, epidermal growth factor-1 and thyroid hormone, play major roles in the initiation of endogenous islet regeneration in diabetes. The most accepted hypothesis is that these molecules stimulate islet precursor cells to undergo neogenesis or to induce replication of existing β-cells, emphasizing the importance of pancreas-resident stem/progenitor cells in islet regeneration. Moreover, the potential of adult stem cell population from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, liver, spleen, or amniotic membrane, is also discussed with regard to their potential to induce pancreatic regeneration.

Did you catch that?  Look at several factors which play a role in the regeneration…

“Various molecules, such as glucagon-like peptide-1, β-cellulin, nicotinamide, gastrin, epidermal growth factor-1 and thyroid hormone, play major roles in the initiation of endogenous islet regeneration in diabetes.”

Looks like I have the next few days cut out looking more in-depth as to what gets those things out of balance, what is needed to return those molecules to a homeostasis, what tests available to determine the status of those molecules in our system… my list will grow!

Anyway – just had to share as it’s another confirmation of hope for T1’s – when our perspective is changed from symptom management to system restoration our health takes on a whole new meaning!  Hope you all are excited about our upcoming new year – I know I am!  That’s it for now…

 

Ask Dr. Bernstein Tele-Seminar (relating to Type 1 & 2 Diabetics)

Dr. Bernstein is a Type 1 Diabetic who went against the main-stream way of thinking when it came to managing his diabetes. He is and type 1 diabetic endocrinologist with some great information!  Although those who are well versed in functional approaches may have some disagreements with some of his suggestions, overall he is still a wonderful resource especially for Type 1’s!!  I especially love his philosophy that all diabetics are entitled to the same blood sugar levels as non diabetics!

Ask Dr. Bernstein Webcast and Teleconference on, Wednesday, December 28^th, you can listen to view the presentation for a limited time by going to this link :

Watch December Seminar Here

The next webcast is January 25^th at 8:00 pm EDT, 7:00 pm CDT, 5:00 pm PDT, and for our overseas guests, 12:00 am UTC (Wednesday).

Put all of the tele-seminar dates for 2017 in your calendar:   January 25^th,  February 22^nd, March 29^th, April 26^th, May 31^st, June 28^th, July 26^th, August 30^th,  September 27^th, October 25^th, November 29^th, and December 27^th, 2017.

If you have a friend who you feel would benefit from listening to the next tele-seminar, they can register here.

Microbiome

For some reason every time I hear the word microbiome I think of the Astrodome “the eighth wonder of the world”.  I get this picture in my head of this giant round egg shape with a ton of people inside all with a common purpose of being there… They are rooting for their team to win.  Lots of cheering going on and for the most part civil…  Every once in  while maybe a fight will break out… But I think that is primarily at soccer events… Anyway.. There is this boatload of folks in this enclosed area and only one team is going to win… Is it going to be a shut out? Does one team steamroll the other or maybe a close game going back and forth that goes well past the standard game time..

Then I think of our gut.  How it is populated with two different teams both vying for the win. What happens when one team dominates?  Does it matter which team has the upper hand?  It’s just some tiny bacteria what difference can they make if one dominates the other? [Edit 04/11/17 additional post connecting microbiome bacteria with diseases]

We rarely think of those “things” populating our guts and will venture to say we probably think even less about what happens when one group gets out of hand.  I often wonder why we are not taught things such as what these researchers from  Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the DIABIMMUNE found in their study on the connection between the microbiome and type 1 diabetes: (just to make sure you all read that right it is a number 1, not a 2, it’s not a typo, I say that because there are lots of articles about type 2 and various connections and type 1’s always are disappointed they don’t have a similar hope of finding meaningful connections)

• Cambridge, Mass., February 5th, 2015

   

  In one of the largest longitudinal studies of the microbiome to date, researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the DIABIMMUNE Study Group have identified a connection between changes in gut microbiota and the onset of type 1 diabetes (T1D). The study, which followed infants who were genetically predisposed to the condition, found that onset for those who developed the disease was preceded by a drop in microbial diversity – including a disproportional decrease in the number of species known to promote health in the gut. These findings, published by Cell, Host & Microbe, could help pave the way for microbial-based diagnostic and therapeutic options for those with T1D.

https://www.broadinstitute.org/news/researchers-find-link-between-microbiome-type-1-diabetes

http://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/abstract/S1931-3128(15)00021-9

Well.  I guess that answers my question. Dare I visit PubMed for more research on the subject?  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?linkname=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=27723761

Guess I better get my yogurt maker “dome” out of the cabinet and put it to use, maybe it won’t suffer the same fate as most of the sport domes seemed to face.

*Astrodome/Reliant Stadium photo By EricEnfermero – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30810342