CRISPR Technology Could Make Treating Diabetes Safer

Can genetic editing help improve the overall health of people living with type 1 diabetes? The results of a recent study involving CRISPR technology and pancreatic cells shows promising signs that that question can be answered in the affirmative. Last month, the New England Journal of Medicine published a paper showing evidence that edited pancreatic cells could be transplanted into someone with type 1 diabetes without suppressing their immune system — and that the patient’s body began producing insulin afterwards.

As the paper’s authors pointed out, the process of suppressing someone’s immune system in order to transplant tissue from a donor “is associated with wide-ranging side effects.” The cells transplanted into the patient described in the study were genetically altered “to avoid rejection.” Twelve weeks after the procedure, the patient’s immune system did not appear to be rejecting the cells.

The lead author of the study, Uppsala University Hospital’s Per-Ola Carlsson, MD, explained why this important. “Although it is well established that pancreatic islet cell transplantation at a target therapeutic dose can predictably allow patients with type 1 diabetes to live without insulin therapy, until now these patients must take lifelong, significant immunosuppression, which is frequently toxic and difficult to tolerate,” Carlsson said in a statement.

What does this mean for the future of diabetes treatment? At Nature, Elie Dolgin explored the study’s results — and the work being done by the company Sana Biotechnology, whose technology was used to create the pancreatic cells used in the study. Dolgin notes that some experts have been more confident in the study’s impact than others. Nature reports that Sana, as well as other companies developing similar technology, have more studies scheduled for 2026.