From left: Tan Wei Xuan, Kally Tan

Diabetes is a global health problem that plagues millions of people. Currently, the medication for diabetes are mostly small molecules or synthetic insulin and these need to be taken orally or injected routinely on a daily basis to regulate blood glucose levels.  The high level of inconvenience tends to result in high non-compliance in patients and thus remains a challenge in the care for diabetes. In addition, several of these drugs carry the risk of hypoglycemia, needing careful dosage management. In contrast, cell therapies, an emerging class of therapeutic modality, have the potential to provide long-term respite to diabetes patients. Cell therapies can increase their quality of life by effectively regulating their blood glucose levels in a sustained manner with a minimal risk of hypoglycemia and eliminates the need for frequent administration.

To advance the development of innovative cell therapies for treatment of diabetes, IMCB is collaborating with Cell Genesis Pte Ltd (https://cellgenesis.com.sg/), to investigate the use of their mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-derived proprietary material. These MSCs are multipotent cells that can be found in tissues such as bone marrow, adipose and umbilical cord. These cells have huge potential for cell therapy in many diseases, including diabetes, because they are readily accessible, expandable, multipotent, can home into sites of damage, and do not display strong immunogenic properties.

This collaboration will leverage on the Cell Enhancement Research Protocol (CEXCI™) developed by Cell Genesis Pte Ltd. CEXCI™ is a technology that involves harvesting MSCs from umbilical cords, culturing them in vitro using optimized conditions which enhance cell viability and ability to home to injured tissues. These cells will then be utilized to deliver their proprietary umbilical cord proteins to the injured tissues for reparative and therapeutic effects. Notably, the CEXCI™ has shown promise in treating diabetes but the exact effects and mechanism(s) of action remain to be investigated. 

As part of this collaboration, Dr Adrian Teo, Senior Principal Scientist at IMCB, and his team will be evaluating the modified MSCs created using CEXCI™ in diabetic pre-clinical models developed at IMCB. The study will focus on investigating the safety, dosage of treatment and mechanism (s) of action of using CEXCI™ MSCs for diabetes therapy – these are research areas that are under active investigation worldwide. 

“Cell therapy and their derived proteins is a new modality beyond small molecule drugs that can offer better compliance and potentially treat diabetes with longer lasting effects. This can then translate to a better quality of life for the large numbers of our diabetes patients.” said Dr. Teo.

Through this collaboration, the team at IMCB and Cell Genesis hope to advance cell therapy for diabetes and pave the way for a novel long-term treatment for diabetes eliminating the need for daily pills or injections.