Promising advances in islet cell transplants for diabetes

The study results are published in the June issue of the American Journal of Transplantation.

UIC is one of only a few centers worldwide able to achieve reproducible and consistent insulin independence in severe type 1 diabetes patients.

In the UIC study, 10 patients with diabetes received between one and three islet cell transplants and were followed for 15 months.

Four received the Edmonton protocol, developed at the University of Alberta, which uses a combination of two immunosuppressants and a monoclonal antibody drug, daclizumab.

Six patients received the UIC protocol -- a combination of etanercept (an anti-inflammatory drug developed to treat rheumatoid arthritis) and exenatide (a drug approved for use in type 2 diabetes to improve glucose control) -- and the Edmonton regimen.

The new procedure allowed patients to get off insulin after a single transplant versus the two to four transplants that were needed using the older protocol, said Dr. José Oberholzer, director of cell and pancreas transplantation at UIC and lead author of the study.

All patients in the study achieved insulin independence, but those who received the UIC protocol required fewer than half the number of islets as those who were treated under the Edmonton protocol.

The four patients who received the Edmonton protocol needed either two or three sequential islet cell transplants to achieve insulin-independence.

The six patients who were treated using the UIC protocol initially achieved insulin-independence after only one islet transplant. Two of these patients required a second islet cell transplant, and one resumed insulin five months after the second transplant due to other complications.

Progress in islet cell transplantation has been limited by the shortage of donor organs, said Oberholzer, who is associate professor of surgery, bioengineering and endocrinology at UIC.

"This study is extremely promising and shows that we can achieve success with fewer islet cells, freeing patients from the need to check their insulin, even after 20 or 30 years of suffering from diabetes," he said.

UIC is one of seven federally funded National Institutes of Health Islet Cell Resource Centers across the country that provides researchers with human pancreatic islet cells for transplantation into diabetic patients and for basic science research on diabetes.

"We have proven that if you have the right team and the right environment you can achieve islet cell transplantation success in a very short time," said Oberholzer, who has led UIC's program since 2003.

Building on results from Oberholzer's study, UIC is participating in the Clinical Islet Transplant Consortium, funded by the NIH to identify the most effective combination of anti-rejection drugs to maximize islet engraftment while reducing toxic side-effects.

Source: University of Illinois at Chicago

Potential diabetes treatment selectively kills autoimmune cells from human patients
In experiments using blood cells from human patients with diabetes and other autoimmune disorders, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have confirmed the mechanism behind a potential new therapy for type 1 diabetes. A team led by Denise Faustman, MD, PhD, director of the MGH Immunobiology Laboratory, showed that blocking a metabolic pathway regulating the immune system specifically eliminated immune cells that react against a patient's own tissues.
Researchers prove that insulin-producing cells can give rise to stem-like cells in-vitro
The question of whether insulin-producing cells of the pancreas can regenerate is key to our understanding of diabetes, and to the further development of regenerative therapies against the disease. Dr Rosenberg from the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and McGill University together with Dr Bernard Massie from the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) have just concluded that they can. The results of their study have been published in the July issue of the journal Laboratory Investigation.
Cancer drug shows promise against graft vs. host disease
A new University of Michigan study in mice suggests that a drug recently approved to fight cancer tumors is also able to reduce the effects of graft-versus-host disease, a common and sometimes fatal complication for people who have had bone marrow transplants.
Boosting survival of insulin-cell transplants for Type 1 Diabetes
Researchers in Japan are reporting a discovery that could improve the effectiveness and expand the use of transplants of insulin-producing cells to treat diabetes. Their study is scheduled for the July 16 issue of ACS' Bioconjugate Chemistry. Insulin-dependent, or Type 1, diabetes affects about 800,000 people in the United States.
Science, hope for adults with type 1 diabetes focus of JDRF's Annual Global Diabetes Research Forum
Research shows some type 1 adults have beta cells, live complication-free even 50 years after diagnosis
Research findings and innovative approaches offer the promise of new therapies and the potential for cures for adults living with type 1 diabetes, according to researchers at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's (JDRF's) Global Research Forum in Washington D.C.
Suspected cause of type 1 diabetes caught 'red-handed' for the first time
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis working with diabetic mice have examined in unprecedented detail the immune cells long thought to be responsible for type 1 diabetes.
Study identifies gene involved in blood stem cell replication, movement
Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have identified a gene that is responsible for the division and movement of marrow-derived, blood-forming stem cells, a finding that could have major implications for the future of bone marrow and blood cell transplantation.
Chronically elevated blood sugar levels disable 'fasting switch'
Continually revved up insulin production, the kind that results from overeating and obesity, slowly dulls the body’s response to insulin. As a result, blood sugar levels start to creep up, setting the stage for diabetes-associated complications such as blindness, stroke and renal failure. To make matters even worse, chronically elevated blood sugar concentrations exacerbate insulin resistance.

Promising advances in islet cell transplants for diabetes

Related stories:

News discussion: