Move over Akita: Introducing 'Kuma mutant' mice for islet transplantation research

[Northerner]

Scientists have used a gene editing technique to establish a novel mouse model of permanent neonatal diabetes -- the immune-deficient Kuma mutant mice with a specific deletion in the Insulin2 (Ins2) gene. This model is expected to be useful for studying the mechanisms governing insulin-producing cell dysfunctions in the pancreas as well as for evaluating human stem-cell derived or interspecies-derived insulin-producing cell transplantation.

Move over Akita: Introducing 'Kuma mutant' mice for islet transplantation research

Scientists have used a gene editing technique to establish a novel mouse model of permanent neonatal diabetes -- the immune-deficient Kuma mutant mice with a specific deletion in the Insulin2 (Ins2) gene. This model is expected to be useful for studying the mechanisms governing insulin-producing...

www.sciencedaily.com

 

[mikeyB]

But such a situation never exists in humans, because none of us has been gene edited. I’m a bit dubious about whether anything useful will come from this research, and also a bit worried about the triumphal tone of the announcement of breeding such mice. Once again, it’s cruelty to animals for the pleasure of scientists.

And don’t bother coming back with Banting’s experiments with dogs. He was looking for a way to get commercial quantities of insulin. He tied off the pancreatic duct, which eventually killed off the protease production of the pancreas and left the beta cells intact and producing insulin. Not enough for commercial production, so he rapidly switched to cows, which of course, led to the familiar beef insulin, all of this for the benefit of mankind.

If you think the experiment above is motivated by anything other than the status of the experimenters, then you are stretching credibility to breaking point.