Therapeutic potential of amnion epithelial cells for diabetes

Whole pancreas, islet, or β-cell transplantation has been a treatment option for diabetes mellitus. However, the shortage of transplantation materials limits this transplantation therapy and new sources of insulin-producing cells are required. The amniotic membrane is a part of the fetal membrane and is composed of amniotic epithelium and mesenchymal cells that are derived from the inner cell mass in the blastocyst. It has been shown that human amniotic epithelial cells and mesenchymal cells have the potential to differentiate into various organs, have less immunologic activity, and are supposed to be cell sources for allogeneic transplantation. Several researchers have reported that amnion-derived cells differentiate into insulin-producing cells in vitro and/or the transplantation of amnion-derived cells normalized the blood glucose level in diabetes mice. Amnion-derived cells may be a good cell source for the transplantation therapy of diabetes.