Claims
- 1-18 (canceled)
- 19. A method for treating diabetes mellitus in an individual in need thereof, said method comprising:
administering to said individual a composition providing a gastrin/CCK receptor ligand that stimulates islet cell neogenesis in an amount sufficient to effect differentiation of pancreatic islet precursor cells to mature insulin-secreting cells.
- 20. The method according to claim 19, wherein said ligand is a gastrin.
- 21. The method according to claim 20, wherein said gastrin is selected from the group consisting of gastrin 34, gastrin 17, and gastrin 8.
- 22. The method according to claim 19, wherein said ligand is a cholecystokinin.
- 23. The method according to claim 22, wherein said cholecystokinin is selected from the group consisting of CCK 58, CCK 33, CCK 22, CCK 12 and CCK 8.
- 24. The method according to claim 19, wherein said islet cell neogenesis is further stimulated when said ligand is administered in combination with an EGF receptor ligand.
- 25. The method according to claim 20, wherein said ligand is an active analog of gastrin, an active fragment of gastrin or a modified gastrin.
- 26. A method for treating diabetes in a patient in need thereof, said method comprising the step of:
ransplanting into said patient pancreatic islets which have been provided ex vivo with a sufficient amount of a gastrin/CCK receptor ligand to induce differentiation of precursor cells in said islets to mature insulin-secreting β-cells.
- 27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the number of β-cells in said islets has been expanded prior to said transplanting step by providing said pancreatic islets with a sufficient amount of an EGF receptor ligand to increase the number of β-cells in said islets.
- 28. The method according to claim 19 or claim 27, wherein said diabetes is Type 2 diabetes.
- 29. A method for enhancing production of mature insulin-secreting cells, said method comprising:
providing to a population of precursor cells an effective amount of a gastrin/CCK receptor ligand to effect differentiation of said precursor cells to mature insulin-secreting cells.
- 30. A composition comprising:
pancreatic β cells, wherein said culture is obtained by providing precursor cells of said pancreatic β cells with a sufficient amount of a gastrin receptor agonist to induce differentiation of said precursor cells to mature pancreatic β cells.
- 31. The method according to claim 19, wherein said composition is administered systemically.
- 32. A method for stimulating pancreatic islet cell neogenesis in an individual in need thereof, said method comprising:
administering to said individual a composition comprising a gastrin in an amount sufficient to effect differentiation of pancreatic islet precursor cells to mature insulin-secreting islet cells, wherein said composition is administered systemically.
- 33. The method according to claim 19, wherein said gastrin/CCK receptor ligand is a proteinaceous receptor ligand.
- 34. A kit comprising:
one or more containers filled with one or more ingredient for a pharmaceutical composition comprising a gastrin receptor ligand.
- 35. The kit according to claim 34, wherein said one or more ingredient are a gastrin and a pharmaceutical carrier.
- 36. The kit according to claim 34, wherein said one or more ingredient are lyophilized.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/127,028, filed Jul. 30, 1998, which is a continuation U.S. Ser. No. 07/992,255, filed Dec. 14, 1992, which issued Mar. 23, 1999, as U.S. Pat. No. ______, which disclosures are incorporated herein by reference.
Continuations (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10029551 |
Dec 2001 |
US |
Child |
10843780 |
May 2004 |
US |
Parent |
09241100 |
Jan 1999 |
US |
Child |
10029551 |
Dec 2001 |
US |