Role of maternal cells in diabetes probed.

摘要

SOME CELLS PASSED FROM MOTHERTO child during pregnancy can differentiate into pancreatic islet beta cells and may play a role in aiding trie production of insulin in children with type 1 diabetes, according to a multinational team of researchers from the United States, France, and the United Kingdom (Nelson JL et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0606169104 [published online ahead of print January 23, 2007]). Previous research had documented that maternal cells are transmitted from mother to fetus and that they persist (Artlett CM et al. Lancet. 2000;356: 2155-2156; Reed AM et al. Lancet. 2000; 356:2156-2157). But the investigators