Using Live Donor Cells to Treat Diabetes

In an impressive achievement that may result in a better way to treat type 1 diabetes, a surgical team at Kyoto University Hospital (Japan) has taken islet cells from a woman and transplanted them in her diabetic daughter, where the cells started to produce insulin within minutes.

Previously, the surgeons removed a portion of the mother's pancreas, permitting them to perform the first islet cell transplant from a living donor. One of the participating surgeons was Dr. James Shapiro, of the University of Alberta (Canada). Dr. Shapiro helped develop the Edmonton Protocol, a procedure that has been performed on 72 Canadians since 1999. In this procedure, islet cells are taken from a donor (cadaver) pancreas and transplanted in patients with type 1 diabetes. One drawback with this method is that many of the patients have to wait as long as two years or more for a donor that is suitable. Islet transplants from living donors would allow more patients to get transplants.

According to Dr. Shapiro, only about 10% of people with type 1 diabetes might be candidates for islet cell transplants. Around 500 diabetic patients have received islet cell transplants in the last five years under the Edmonton Protocol, in which the transplants were taken from cadavers. These recipients must take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives to avoid rejection.





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Kyoto U. Hospital