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An alternative to sparking the body into growing new insulin-producing cells is replacing cells killed off by diabetes with functioning ones from a donor - similar to a heart or kidney transplant. Beyond improving transplantation techniques, our research is focused on increasing the supply of cells that can be transplanted - from animals, like pigs, or by finding ways to change different types of cells, such as liver cells, or coaxing adult or embryonic stem cells into becoming insulin-producing cells.

Replacement: Recent Key Advances, Spring 2009

Encapsulating Islets Proves Effective Without Need for Immune Suppression
In a study in dogs, researchers used a new encapsulation technique to transplant islets without the need to use powerful immune-suppressing drugs after the procedure. The technique, which involved a five-component/three-membrane capsule designed by the researchers, protected the transplanted islets from immune system attack, enabling the new beta cells to successfully restore normal blood glucose levels in the animals. Dr. Taylor Wang at Vanderbilt University conducted the study.

What this may mean for people with type 1 diabetes: The study holds out hope that this encapsulation technique might be successful in people with type 1 diabetes. This would be a highly promising development: by eliminating the need to take powerful immune-suppressing drugs, islet transplantation would become a more appropriate treatment option for a far wider group of people than it is currently.

Clinical Studies Show Benefits of Islet Transplantation
University of Minnesota researchers found that by modifying elements of the standard islet transplantation regimen, they achieved a 66% rate of insulin independence three years after the initial procedure. Moreover, although all of the study participants had severe hypoglycemia before the procedure, none of them experienced a recurrence. The study is one of several recent reports with similar results, showing that certain modified procedures can greatly improve the success of islet transplantation. In a separate study conducted at the University of Miami, researchers found that islet transplantation was associated with long-term improvement in patients' quality of life. As the researchers noted, assessing effect on health-related quality of life is particularly important in the case of islet transplantation because recipients must take powerful immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives, which can have serious side effects.

What this may mean for people with type 1 diabetes: These studies highlight the benefits of islet transplantation as a treatment option for some people with type 1 diabetes. They underscore the importance of addressing the issues that hinder its wider use.

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