Helmholtz Munich Receives Funding from la Caixa Foundation to Develop Regenerative Diabetes Therapy
Helmholtz Munich is partnering with Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, Spain, on a research project aimed at advancing treatments for type 1 diabetes (T1D). Sponsored by the la Caixa Foundation with nearly one million Euros in funding, the project seeks to develop a regenerative cell therapy that could offer more effective and sustainable solutions for treating the disease. The team includes renowned diabetes researcher Prof. Heiko Lickert from Helmholtz Munich, who will work alongside Dr. Lorenzo Pasquali from UPF to investigate the relationship between inflammation and T1D genetic predisposition with the final goal to engineer stem cell derived insulin producing cells with enhanced survival advantages to inflammatory insults.
Overcoming Challenges in Type 1 Diabetes Treatment
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. This leads to elevated blood sugar levels and increases the risk of severe complications, such as cardiovascular disease, leaving T1D patients lifelong dependent to insulin injections. While recent advancements have allowed scientists to derive pancreatic cells from pluripotent stem cells, these lab-grown cells, if transplanted, will inevitably encounter inflammatory challenges, leading to their gradual depletion and, eventually, the recurrence of the disease.
Developing Stress-Resistant Beta Cells for Long-Term Therapy
The research project, titled "Generating Stress-Resistant β-cells for Cell Replacement Therapy," aims to tackle this challenge by developing beta cells that are resistant to inflammation. This key barrier has hindered the success of cell replacement therapies, and by overcoming it, the project hopes to provide a long-term solution for patients with type 1 diabetes.
Heiko Lickert, Director of the Institute of Diabetes and Regeneration Research at Helmholtz Munich, highlighted the importance of this research: “Our work focuses on one of the most critical obstacles in cell replacement therapy for type 1 diabetes – immune rejection. By developing stress-resistant beta cells, we aim to offer a more sustainable treatment that could significantly improve the lives of those affected by the disease.”
Lorenzo Pasquali, group leader at UPF adds: “The knowledge generated will lay the groundwork for designing insulin-producing cells capable of surviving the challenges of inflammation, thus enabling a major breakthrough in cell regeneration therapy.”
