First Successful Cell Transplant Cures Diabetes

Iphtashu Fitz writes "A few months ago the 50th anniversary of the first organ transplant was celebrated. Over those 50 years surgeons have learned how to sucessfully transplant many organs and other body parts. Now it seems that Japanese surgeons have added yet another successful transplant to the list, having recently transplanted insulin-generating cells, known as Islets of Langerhans from a mother to her diabetic daughter. Three months after the surgery both mother and daughter appear to be completely healthy. Although the daughter no longer needs insulin she still needs to take powerful drugs to keep her immune system from rejecting the new cells. Researchers also still don't know if this procedure would work in many people with type 1 diabetes since in many of those cases their own immune system has destroyed their Islet cells."

Comments

Future of treatment?

[Bananatree3]

With the advent of this new treatment, maybe thousands of diabetics could have the ability to live insulin-injection free. Yes, they do have to take anti-rejection drugs, but it is no different then taking the drugs for an organ transplant. Even if this is only a prelude to a new, more permenent treatment, the possibilities of this doing good with this new treatment is huge.

Re:Future of treatment?

[Bitsy Boffin]

Diabetics learn very quickly how much insulin they require and to adjust it as they see fit.

On the insulin side, we have a wide range of available, from very rapid acting ( taking effect within 10 minutes to provide "bolus" (peak) insulin for when you eat) to very long acting (lasting up to 24 hours to provide "basal" (background) insulin). Using different insulins diabetics can get a remarkably precise control with little effort.

As for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) leading to diabetic coma, this is easily avoided by any diabetic with even "rough" control due to the fact that they will readily feel blood sugar levels dropping far in advance of danger and a quick ingestion of some sweet substance will solve the problem in a matter of a couple of minutes - actually, it's quite remarkable how quickly the sugar is absorbed and works it's magic.

It's not hard these days to keep your diabetes in fair control, and within or close to the "normal" range that will keep problems later in life at bay. Diabetes is in essence a very treatable and predicatble ailment once detected.

Detecting it in the first place is probably the biggest problem these days - so many people don't recognize the symptoms...

a) Excessive thirst and urination - this is the biggie, classic and very telling symptom. Your body is working hard trying to flush itself, but it can't keep up.
b) Tiredness - the higher your BG gets, the more tired you get
c) Weight loss, dehydration.
d) Sweet fruity smell on the breath - your body is having to break down fats to get at sugars and as a result it's producing some pretty nasty by products - your getting keto acidosis. At this point you are extremely ill and must get to a doctor very quickly. I mean VERY quickly... if you delay then you may fall into a coma, your brain will swell, and rather soon, you will die.

People often leave it much to late, not getting diagnosed until they are in a state of acidosis - I know, I did - almost too late, but once diagnosed, a couple of days in a hospital and some home visits by a diabetes nurse educator I was fine - 10 years later I'm still fine, and I expect to still be fine for another 40 to 50 years at least.

First implemented in Canada

[Quirk]

This procedure was, I believe, developed and first performed in Canada. The idea has been around for a few years.

Re:Will the life quality be better or worse?

[kshotswell]

As a Type 1 diabetic for the last two years I can say that I would gladly take 500 pills a day if it meant that I could get away from the needle. With Blood glucose ranges from 34 to 634 it makes life a pain, To low and you pass out to high and your destroying your kidneys. Life sucks when you have to stop in the middle of mowing the lawn to drink a big glass of OJ to keep your BG from going through the floor. !!! I'm all for it and the reasearch that is taking place!!! Give me the pills, and anybody got a pancreas that they dont need? :)

Unfortunately, the future is the past in this case

[CarpetShark]

This isn't new, unfortunately. Islet cell transplants have been happening for many years now. The first cases I heard of were in Russia, using islet cells from aborted foetuses (I gather such things are more readily available in Russia). But they've been doing it on a small scale in the UK for years, too, with success.

I'm not sure why we haven't seen this become a mainstream solution yet, but personally, I'm not holding my breath for any of the diabetes solutions that get mentioned by news reporters regularly. News services seem to like to this story so much that they declare a new "cure" each year... except that it'll be years before most people get it, if they get it.

Japanese weren't the first

[Anonymous Coward]

Ummm... I don't think the Japanese were the first. The University of Alberta is listed as the first organization to do this kind of transplant successfully. Check out;

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/artic/pancreatic_isl et_transplantation_niddk.htm

"Scientists have made many advances in islet transplantation over the past 25 years. Dr. James Shapiro and colleagues at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, have used a new procedure called the Edmonton Protocol to treat eight patients with type 1 diabetes. These patients have been completely freed from insulin injections since the first transplant in mid-1999."

and:

http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/cs/programs/pancr eas/research.html

"The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada was the first group to successfully maintain islet transplants using islets from two organ donors and a new steroid free immunosuppressive regimen."

and:

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/pancreaticis let/

"Scientists have made many advances in islet transplantation in recent years. Since reporting their findings in the June 2000 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, have continued to use a procedure called the Edmonton protocol to transplant pancreatic islets into people with type 1 diabetes. A multicenter clinical trial of the Edmonton protocol for islet transplantation is currently under way, and results will be announced in several years. According to the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), as of June 2003, about 50 percent of the patients have remained insulin-free up to 1 year after receiving a transplant. A clinical trial of the Edmonton protocol is also being conducted by the ITN, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International."

Still... an amazing area of research and one hopes it leads to a more generally available cure for diabetes (without all the immunosuppresive side effects).

/Min

Re:Asking for money??

[poppen_fresh]

Lee Iacocca isn't just some luser on the internet begging for money. He's an industrialist that was at one time the president of Ford and went on to save Chrysler from almost certain failure.

If you read on to the bottom of the wikipedia article:

Following the death of Iacocca's wife from diabetes, he has become an active supporter of research to find a cure for the disease, and has been one of the main patrons of the unorthodox diabetes research of Denise Faustman at Massachusetts General Hospital.

And following that link for Denise Faustman, you'll see that she is noted for transplanting islet cells.

So, I don't think joinlee.org would be such a bad place to donate to.

Not in my experience

[The Tyro]

The cocktail of immuno-suppressive drugs (in some form or another) is something you pretty much take for life after an organ transplant.

I am a physician, and I've never heard of people being completely weaned from drugs. If they were, they would run the risk of their immune system reasserting itself big and ugly, possibly resulting in an episode of acute rejection (which is no joke). I can see them trying to taper the dose down a bit, but immunosuppressive therapy remains the standard of care.

If this is something new, I'd love to see it happen, because those drugs are very problematic for patients. They not only leave you susceptible to common infections, but they also increase your risk for cancers.

Never underestimate how many potential cancers your immune system finds and kills early. You should see some of the post-transplant patients who have spent time in the sun... they grow skin cancers like it's their job.