Minnesota researchers on the cusp of a diabetes cure

Minnesota Public Radio | Lorna Benson

Minneapolis, Minn. — The cure for diabetes could come from cells from pigs being raised in germ-free pens in Western Wisconsin or from human skin cells in a lab on the University of Minnesota campus.

Those two experiments are part of a joint project launched one year ago by the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic to defeat diabetes within the next 10 years. The effort is called the Decade of Discovery.

It's high-stakes research. Diabetes is a worldwide epidemic that is taking a huge toll in Minnesota. Health officials say one-third of all adults in Minnesota either have diabetes or are pre-diabetic, with blood glucose levels that are higher than normal.

ISLET CELLS FROM PIGS

With genetic characteristics that are remarkably similar to humans, pigs may hold the cure to diabetes. There is such promise in the animals that a nonprofit organization built a facility in western Wisconsin to supply pigs, or more specifically their insulin-producing cells, to University of Minnesota transplant researchers.

Insulin is a crucial hormone that helps us use energy from the food we eat. People with diabetes have lost their insulin cells or they don't work properly.

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