Discover what’s possible
Diabetes
Diabetes is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, blindness, kidney failure, neuropathy, and amputations. An estimated 23.6 million people in the United States and more than 180 million people worldwide have the disease, and those numbers are expected to double by 2030.
Diabetes is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, blindness, kidney failure, neuropathy, and amputations. An estimated 23.6 million people in the United States and more than 180 million people worldwide have the disease, and those numbers are expected to double by 2030.
University of Minnesota scientists are leading the way in developing a cure for type 1 diabetes, which is caused by the immune system’s destruction of insulin-producing cells, known as islets, in the pancreas. At the University’s world-renowned Schulze Diabetes Institute, researchers are honing in on three promising ways to cure type 1 diabetes: through human islet-cell transplantation, pig islet transplantation, and stem cell-derived islet cells.
University scientists established the protocol for human islet-cell transplantation, and nearly 90 percent of patients who have undergone the transplant in clinical trials are now insulin-independent. To circumvent the severe shortage of donor organs that provide the needed islet cells, our researchers have successfully reversed diabetes in animal models using pig islet cells. Researchers here also are developing a cell therapy to counter transplant-related tissue rejection while collaborating with engineers across the University to develop an alternative transplantation site.
Additionally, they are finding more effective ways to prevent and manage type 2 diabetes—caused by the body’s inability to make enough insulin or use it effectively. They are evaluating new surgical solutions, including a type of gastric bypass surgery now being tested in clinical trials, as well as implementing comprehensive prevention and intervention strategies in at-risk populations to reduce obesity and other lifestyle factors that can lead to diabetes.
