Inside your body, there’s a small but powerful organ called the pancreas. One of its main jobs is to help control the sugar levels in your blood. It does this by producing a hormone called insulin. Insulin works like a key—it helps sugar move from your blood into your body’s cells, where it’s used for energy.
Insulin is made by special cells in the pancreas called beta cells. If the body doesn’t make enough insulin, or if the insulin doesn’t work properly, sugar starts to build up in the blood instead of getting into the cells. This can lead to diabetes, a condition that affects millions of people around the world.
Now, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have made an exciting discovery that could change how we treat diabetes. Led by Dr. James Lo, the team found out that not all beta cells are the same. In fact, there are four different kinds—and one of them might be the key to better treatment.
This special group of cells is called “cluster 1.” These cells are like the superheroes of beta cells. They produce more insulin and are better at breaking down sugar compared to the other types. Losing these superhero cells may raise the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
To find these different types of beta cells, the scientists used a technique called single-cell transcriptomics. This is a method that lets researchers look at the activity of each gene inside a single cell. Think of genes as instruction books—by checking which ones are turned on, scientists can tell what a cell is doing.
The superhero cluster 1 beta cells had more active genes involved in making insulin and handling sugar. They also had high amounts of a protein called CD63, which made it easier to spot them under the microscope.
So, what does this mean for people? The researchers discovered that both mice and humans have these special cluster 1 cells. But in obese mice and mice with diabetes, there were fewer of them. As the number of superhero cells dropped, insulin production also fell, making it harder to control blood sugar levels.
To test if these cells could help, the scientists took the superhero cells and put them into diabetic mice. The results were amazing—the mice had better control of their blood sugar. But when regular beta cells were used, they didn’t help nearly as much. This suggests that treatments using the cluster 1 beta cells might one day help people with diabetes.
Dr. Lo and his team now want to understand why these superhero cells disappear in diabetes and how to protect or restore them. They’re also looking into how current diabetes medicines affect the different types of beta cells. If medicines can protect the superhero cells, or boost their numbers, they might become even more helpful.
This discovery brings new hope for diabetes treatment. It shows that not all beta cells are equal, and that focusing on the most powerful ones could lead to better results. In the future, doctors might be able to help people with diabetes by restoring or boosting their own superhero cells.
Other research has also shown that healthy foods like whole grains and blueberries, along with vitamins like vitamin D, may help manage blood sugar and blood pressure in people with diabetes.
Thanks to studies like this one, published in Nature Cell Biology, we are getting closer to finding better ways to fight diabetes. Each discovery helps us understand the body a little more and brings new possibilities for helping people live healthier, longer lives.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies that MIND diet may reduce risk of vision loss disease, and Vitamin D could benefit people with diabetic neuropathic pain.
For more information about diabetes, please see recent studies that Vitamin E could help reduce blood sugar and insulin resistance in diabetes, and results showing eating eggs in a healthy diet may reduce risks of diabetes, high blood pressure.
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