It's In the News.. a look at the top headlines and stories in the diabetes community. This week's top stories: CRISPR modified cell transplant for type 1, risk of T1D if parent has a different type of diabetes, Metformin and the brain, oral GLP-1, and more!

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Episode transcription with links:

Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I'm Stacey Simms and every other Friday I bring you a short episode with the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now.

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A 42-year-old man who has lived most of his life with type 1 diabetes has become the first human to receive a transplant of genetically modified insulin-producing cells. This marks the first pancreatic cell transplant in a human to sidestep the need for immunosuppressant drugs.

"This is the most exciting moment of my scientific career," says cell biologist Per-Ola Carlsson of Uppsala University in Sweden, who helped develop the procedure. The new treatment, he says, "opens the future possibility of treating not only diabetes but other autoimmune diseases."

This procedure uses the gene editing technique, CRISPR, to discourage the auto immune attack on the donor cells.

Before the transplant, the participant had no measurable naturally produced insulin and was receiving daily doses of the hormone. But within four to 12 weeks following the transplant, his levels rose slightly on their own after meals—showing that the new beta cells were releasing some insulin in response to glucose.

even though the new study is promising, it involved just one participant and is therefore preliminary. And longer-term monitoring is needed to confirm the therapy's safety before it can be offered to more people. She also notes that the injected cells produced only 7 percent of the insulin needed for a person to be fully independent of additional medication. The researchers supplied the recipient with insulin doses to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

While Herold thinks it's still too early to consider this approach for a cure, "these options are now here to change the disease in ways that have never been possible before," he says. "There's tremendous hope."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/type-1-diabetes-patients-insulin-production-restored-with-new-cell/

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This one is interesting… a recent study shows that children of mothers with gestational diabetes or fathers with type 2 diabetes have higher chances of developing type 1 diabetes than kids whose parents do not have any type of diabetes.

Specifically, the study found that children whose mothers had gestational diabetes during pregnancy were 94% more likely to develop type 1 diabetes compared to children of mothers without diabetes. Similarly, having a father with type 2 diabetes was linked to a 77% higher risk. The study also suggests a possible link between maternal type 2 diabetes and type 1 diabetes in children, although more data are needed to confirm whether the risk is real.

"What is interesting is that type 1 diabetes is a disease of lack of the hormone insulin while gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes stem mostly from the body's resistance to the hormone. What may be happening is that genes, environments and behaviors that create insulin resistance may also, in some cases, trigger the immune reactions that lead to type 1 diabetes," adds Dr. Dasgupta.

A 2019 meta-analysis by researchers at Soochow University in China found that gestational diabetes was linked to a 66% higher risk of type 1 diabetes in children. This new study, which includes more than twice as many studies, offers a robust synthesis of current evidence and shows the risk is even greater than previously estimated. It is also the first meta-analysis to examine the link between paternal type 2 diabetes and type 1 diabetes in offspring.

"Several mechanisms may be at play. Families often share lifestyle and eating habits, which can raise the likelihood that children will be affected. But beyond that, high blood sugar levels may also cause biological changes in parents that could increase their children's risk of developing type 1 diabetes," explains Laura Rendon, co-first author of the study, who completed an MSc in experimental medicine at The Institute and, as someone living with type 1 diabetes herself, finds deep personal meaning in conducting this research.

For instance, the authors suggest that high blood sugar during pregnancy may stress the fetus's insulin-producing beta cells, reducing their number at birth or making them more vulnerable to damage later in life. It may also trigger epigenetic changes—modifications to proteins and molecules attached to DNA—that increase the risk. Likewise, high blood sugar in fathers with type 2 diabetes may cause epigenetic changes in their sperm, potentially influencing their child's risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-diabetes-children-linked-parents.html

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Can a CGM help you lose weight? The company Signos is banking on it – the just got FDA approval for their system, which uses the over the counter Dexcom Stelo.

The claim here is that the system will help track how food choices, activity, stress and sleep can all affect metabolism. Signos also works in partnership with the digital nutrition counseling startup Nourish. It currently offers a quarterly subscription plan, including six CGM sensors, for $139 per month. And they tell you don't take any medical actions based on the app's output without consulting a physician.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/fda-clears-signos-over-counter-cgm-powered-weight-loss-app

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Good news for T1D1, a free mobile app that helps people calculate insulin doses, track daily data, and share insights with healthcare providers. After being pulled off the market with similar apps a few years ago, it's now back and FDA approved. Drew Mendelow created the app after his diagnosis at age 13. He came on the show last year and I'll link his story up in the show notes.

Diabetes Center Berne provided the initial funding to support the T1D1 efforts to redesign the app per FDA standards.
Comerge AG , the registered manufacturer, enlisted a team of software engineers, regulatory experts, and design professionals to ensure T1D1 was FDA-ready.
Dexcom graciously conducted the Human Factors study to ensure safety and accuracy.

T1D1 is now FDA-cleared as a Class II medical device and is the first over-the-counter insulin calculator cleared for individuals aged 2 and older.

T1D1 is expected to be live in the AppStore and Google Play Store by October 2025.

https://diabetes-connections.com/the-fda-took-down-this-teens-free-bolus-calculator-he-needs-your-help-to-bring-it-back/

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Metformin has been the standard treatment for type 2 diabetes for more than six decades, yet scientists still do not fully understand how it works. A team from Baylor College of Medicine, working with international collaborators, has now identified an unexpected factor in its effectiveness: the brain. Their findings reveal a brain pathway involved in metformin's glucose-lowering action, pointing to new strategies for treating diabetes with greater precision. The study was published in Science Advances.

The researchers concentrated on a small protein called Rap1, located in a region of the brain known as the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). They discovered that metformin's ability to lower blood sugar at clinically relevant doses depends on suppressing Rap1 activity in this brain area.

"This discovery changes how we think about metformin," Fukuda said. "It's not just working in the liver or the gut, it's also acting in the brain. We found that while the liver and intestines need high concentrations of the drug to respond, the brain reacts to much lower levels."

https://scitechdaily.com/after-60-years-scientists-uncover-hidden-brain-pathway-behind-diabetes-drug-metformin/

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Looks like GLP-1 pills are moving ahead. Lilly says it's version helped overweight adults with type 2 lose 10% of their body weights and lower A1C. Just two weeks ago, we were talking about how the same drug in people without diabetes had less than the stellar expected results.

Orforglipron is a small-molecule pill that is easier to manufacture and package than wildly popular injectable drugs for obesity, such as Lilly's Zepbound and Novo Nordisk's NOVOb.CO rival treatment Wegovy, which are peptide mimics of the appetite-controlling GLP-1 hormone.

In the 72-week study of more than 1,600 overweight or obese adults with type 2 diabetes, those who received the 36-milligram highest dose of orforglipron on average shed 10.5% of their weight, or about 23 pounds (10.43 kg), versus 2.2% for those who received a placebo, achieving the main goal of the trial.

Patients on the lowest 6 mg dose of the Lilly drug lost 5.5% of their weight.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2025/08/26/lilly-glp-1-pill-weight-loss/85830686007/

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An intervention that combined a low-calorie Mediterranean diet and exercise led to less diabetes incidence in older adults.

Men had a greater diabetes risk reduction with the intervention than women.

The study was based in Spain, and the diet may not be as easy to adhere to in the U.S.

Among nearly 5,000 adults with metabolic syndrome and overweight or obesity in the PREDIMED-Plus trial, those who followed this intervention had a 31% lower risk for type 2 diabetes over 6 years relative to those who received only ad libitum Mediterranean diet advice (aHR 0.69, 95% CI 0.59-0.82).

the Mediterranean diet focuses on high intake of plant-based foods, moderate consumption of fish, poultry, and dairy with optional red wine, and low intake of red meats, sweets, and sugar-sweetened beverages. Common foods featured in the diet include extra-virgin olive oil, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains.

However, Sharon Herring, MD, MPH, and Gina Tripicchio, PhD, MSEd, both of Temple University in Philadelphia, pointed out that this study was conducted solely in Spain, and sticking to this type of diet may be more challenging in countries like the U.S.

"Participants in the study received extra-virgin olive oil to support adherence and retention; in the United States, prices of extra-virgin olive oil have nearly doubled since 2021 due to a combination of factors including climate change, rising production costs, supply chain disruptions, and now tariffs," they noted in an accompanying editorial. "[T]he large number of dietitian contacts during the study may prove difficult to scale broadly in the United States given challenges with health care access and reimbursement for prevention services."

https://www.medpagetoday.com/primarycare/diabetes/117151

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A group of Canadian researchers has identified an unexpected way to lower blood sugar and protect the liver: by capturing a little-known fuel produced by gut bacteria before it enters the body and causes harm.

The findings, published in Cell Metabolism, could open the door to new therapies to treat metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.

Scientists from McMaster University, Université Laval, and the University of Ottawa discovered that a molecule generated by gut microbes can cross into the bloodstream, where it drives the liver to overproduce glucose and fat. By designing a method to trap this molecule in the gut before it reaches circulation, they achieved striking improvements in blood sugar regulation and fatty liver disease in obese mice.

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-a-surprising-new-way-to-fight-diabetes/

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Dexcom, which specializes in technology for glucose biosensing, will lay off 350 workers, with nearly 200 of them in San Diego, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. The bulk of the local jobs being lost are focused on Dexcom operations and manufacturing.

The Dexcom development follows cutbacks to Verily, a life sciences company that is a subsidiary of Alphabet, Google's corporate parent.

Verily's work included a project with Dexcom on wearable glucose sensors. CEO Stephen Gillett, in a memo obtained by the publication, said there will be "workforce reductions across Verily."

A representative for Verily confirmed to Business Insider that "we have made the difficult decision to discontinue manufacturing medical devices and will no longer be supporting them going forward."

https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2025/08/27/report-life-sciences-firm-dexcom-lay-off-200-san-diego-workers/

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Front office changes at Insulet. Eric Benjamin, former chief product and customer experience officer, will take the role of chief operating officer, effective immediately. Manoj Raghunandanan Mu-NOHJ Rug-a-nun-da-nun to the position of chief growth officer, leading Insulet's new growth organization.

The appointments are some of CEO Ashley McEvoy's first changes since she was hired in April. The appointments come after McEvoy outlined four priorities for Insulet on an August earnings call:

enhancing the company's commercial capabilities, building Insulet's brand and direct-to-consumer capabilities, driving growth outside of the U.S. and accelerating the pace of innovation.

https://www.medtechdive.com/news/insulet-eric-benjamin-manoj-raghunandanan-appointments/758668/

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Want to highlight The Children's Diabetes Foundation in Colorado – they held a medal ceremony for patients of the Barbara Davis Center who've lived with Type 1 diabetes for 50 years or more. There were 87 medal recipients in the ceremony including Dana Davis, Executive Director of the Children's Diabetes Foundation and the daughter of the founders of the Barbara Davis Center.

Davis shared:

"When you got Type1 diabetes in the 70s, they thought you shouldn't have children. They thought you weren't going to live past 30 or 40. It was definitely very different," Davis said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/barbara-davis-center-celebrates-colorado-type-1-diabetes-patients-milestone/

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