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The natural cells that exist in the human gut could be the key to treating people with type 1 diabetes. According to a new study, scientists found that these gut cells can be coaxed into making insulin, which is the hormone that these diabetics lack in their body.

"The search for the 'holy grail' is to produce a source of insulin producing cells either for transplantation or to convert the body's own cells to make sufficient insulin," said one expert, Dr. Derek LeRoith, professor of medicine and diabetes at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City reported by WebMD.

Study's senior author, Domenico Accili, MD, the Russell Berrie Foundation Professor of Diabetes (in Medicine) at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) added, reported by Medical Xpress, "People have been talking about turning one cell into another for a long time, but until now we hadn't gotten to the point of creating a fully functional insulin-producing cell by the manipulation of a single target."

For this study, researchers from Columbia University Medical Center used human pluripotent stem cells to create a tissue model of the intestine. The team then identified and deactivated the FOX01 gene located in the gut cells by using genetic engineering. After the cells were changed, the researchers discovered that they started releasing insulin within seven days. The cells released insulin in response to glucose.

The researchers concluded that cells could be "reeducated" to perform the functions of other cells that are missing in the body. The team reasoned that if a drug can deactivate FOX01, it could potentially cure type 1 diabetes.

"This study and others like it may form the basis of future development of insulin producing cells that could be used in 'curing' type 1 diabetes," LeRoith said.

The study was published in Nature Communications.