Pancreatic Islet Transplantation: Will This New Technique Against Type 1 Diabetes Finally Replace Insulin Injections?

A new transplant method, specifically pancreatic islet transplantation which was developed by the Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium recently, proved itself in two phase 3 clinical trials.

As a result, more than half of the patients treated have turned "insulin-independent" for many years, an OI Canadian report specified.

This new approach now appears to be a promising treatment for type 1 diabetes. Nonetheless, the technique still needs improvement as it's unfortunately not always producing the expected result in the most seriously affected patients.

Type 1 diabetes, previously called "insulin-dependent diabetes, is an autoimmune disease characterized by the total absence of the production of insulin.

Insulin Dependence

According to the Trust My Science website, beta cells in the islets of Langerhans, which are found in the pancreas and are usually accountable for producing this hormone, are eliminated by the immune system.

Nevertheless, in the absence of insulin, glucose is building up in the blood, which has delecterious impacts on the body. Therefore, people suffering from type 1 diabetes are dependent on daily insulin injections or an insulin pump for life.

The disease is affecting 10 percent of diabetes cases although its incidence keeps on rising. According to Inserm, for the past two decades, the number of individuals affected has been rising at the rate of three to four percent each year.

Additionally, the disease's onset is increasingly precocious, particularly in children below five years of age. Pancreatic islet transplantation, which is described in a Medscape report, and targeted at replacing the damaged cells, constituting a promising treatment avenue.

It's making it possible to do minus the insulin for a few years. Nonetheless, its effectiveness stays highly variable and the method needs several doors while the available organs are few. Researchers now propose that this new technique could change the game.

Longer-Lasting Independence from Insulin Injections

The new approach was applied to more than 70 volunteer patients, among the most severely affected by the disease. All type 1 diabetes at high risk of severe hypoglycemia which can result in loss of consciousness.

Among these patients, some have previously undergone a kidney transplant because of their diabetes. Indeed, on top of cardiovascular complications, diabetes increases the risk of kidney failure, and many patients with type 1 diabetes have undergone kidney transplants already, which is complicating the treatment.

At the end of the follow-up period, more than 50 percent of patients who had gone through islet transplantation and 49 percent of patients who had gone through prior kidney transplantation were found to have surviving grafts.

Promises Freedom from Severe Hypoglycemia

Essentially, freedom from severe hypoglycemia was kept at more than 90 percent in both groups, the researchers reported.

Furthermore, kidney function stayed stale during long-term follow-up in both groups and even improved in people who had gone through a kidney transplant.

Out of 75 percent who were able to initially stop insulin treatment, more than 50 percent retained total independence from insulin injections, which means that they did not need the drug.

Related information about islet transplants is shown on Ohio State Wexner Medical Center's YouTube video below:

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