The pancreas is a flat organ in vertebrates, about six inches long and located in the abdomen. Proper pancreas function is essential for the production of digestive enzymes and a number of hormones, including insulin which controls the levels of sugar, i.e. glucose, in the blood. An insufficient production of insulin causes diabetes, a group of diseases characterized by abnormally high levels of glucose in blood. There are a number of serious health complications due to diabetes such as blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke, neuropathy, and amputations. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States and currently no cure exists.
In the recent years, embryonic stem cells (ES) have become as one of the more promising therapies for the treatment of diabetes. In theory, ES cells would be directed to become insulin-producing pancreatic cells that could then replace dysfunctional ones. Our scientists have described two factors involved in the differentiation of pancreatic cell lines during embryogenesis...
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