Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation 


       Islets are clusters of cells in the pancreas that produce insulin and 
      other hormones. When islets are destroyed, the body cannot make insulin 
      and a person develops Type 1 diabetes. Researchers believe that 
      transplanting islet cells to provide the needed insulin might be a cure 
      for Type 1 diabetes.
      At present, islet transplantation is an experimental therapy. Scientists 
      have made progress toward islet transplantation over the past 25 years, 
      but still face many barriers in attempting to use islet cell transplants, 
      in particular, as a cure for diabetes.
      Two major areas of research are methods of obtaining a sufficient number 
      of cells to transplant and preventing rejection of transplanted cells.
      Getting enough islet cells to transplant. Early findings show that about 1 
      million islet cells have to be transplanted to make enough insulin so that 
      insulin injections will no longer be necessary. The number of people who 
      could benefit from transplants is larger than the number of human organ 
      donors available each year, so researchers around the world are studying 
      the use of islet cells from fetal tissue or other species such as pigs.
      Preventing rejection. Rejection is the biggest problem with any 
      transplant. The immune system is programmed to destroy "foreign" invaders 
      such as bacteria and viruses. However, the system also destroys "invited 
      foreigners," such as transplanted islet cells.
      Large doses of medicines, called immunosuppressants, are necessary to stop 
      the immune system from rejecting the transplant. For most people, the 
      risks of using immunosuppressants are greater than the benefits of 
      transplantation. (However, people with diabetes who must take these 
      medications because of kidney transplants for end-stage renal disease can 
      benefit from simultaneous pancreas transplant.)
      Researchers are trying to develop methods of transplanting islet cells to 
      reduce or eliminate the need for immunosuppression and the risk of 
      rejection. Immunoisolation methods separate the islets from the immune 
      system of the patient by coating cells or encapsulating them into 
      microscopic containers. Immunoalteration tries to change the surface of 
      islet cells so that the patient's immune system does not notice or attack 
      them.


       
      For more information contact the American Diabetes Association at (800) 
      DIABETES (800-232-3472), or ask your health care provider.



      Additional Information on Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation 
      The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse collects resource 
      information on diabetes for Combined Health Information Database (CHID). 
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      information for health information and health education resources.
      To provide you with the most up-to-date resources, information specialists 
      at the clearinghouse created an automatic search of CHID. To obtain this 
      information you may view the results of the automatic search on Pancreatic 
      Islet Cell Transplantation.
       Or, if you wish to perform your own search of the database, you may 
      access the CHID Online web site and search CHID yourself.



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      e-text posted: 17 March 1998