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Using various approaches, glucose-responsive, insulin-producing β cells have been transplanted into patients with type 1 diabetes. But widespread use of this therapy has faced three major challenges. First, the supply of such insulin-producing cells — typically from cadaveric islets — is limited. Second, lifetime immunosuppressive therapy is required. Third, attempts to encase β cells in “cages” of a biomaterial called alginate (to protect them from the recipient's immune system) typically elicits a foreign-body response that aborts β cell function.
To overcome these limitations, investigators used a technique for growing unlimited numbers of human β cells from embryonic stem cells (NEJM JW Gen Med Nov 15 2014 and Cell 2014; 159:428). Among …