Islet Cell Transplants Not Cure for Type 1 Diabetes Yet

Study says improved techniques, immunosuppressants could brighten picture

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

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WEDNESDAY, Sept. 27 (HealthDay News) -- The latest study on islet cell transplantation has both good and bad news for people with type 1 diabetes.

The good news is that nearly half of those who receive an islet cell transplant are insulin-free at one year after transplant; the bad news is that by the end of the second year that number drops to about one in seven.

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Still, researchers expect that with improvements in the technical aspects of the procedure, and better anti-rejection drugs, those numbers will improve.

"A phenomenal amount of glycemic control can be provided with islet transplantation," said study author Dr. A.M. James Shapiro, director of the clinical islet transplant program at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

For people with diabetes, he said, "There's excitement and definite hope on the horizon. There's a robust treatment happening today in humans, not just in mice or rats."

Results of the study were expected to be published in the Sept. 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"You can look at this as the glass being half full or half empty," said Dr. Jonathan Bromberg, who directs the transplant institute at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

For people with type 1 diabetes, Bromberg said, the glass is definitely half full as work on islet transplantation is moving forward and they're having some success. But, he said, for policymakers and health-care administrators, the glass is half empty because while there's been modest success for islet transplants, "They have to try to figure out if this is the best way to spend limited health-care dollars vs. doing screening and more intensive diabetes care to a large number of patients."

The field of islet transplantation is relatively young, with the first real success coming just six years ago from Shapiro's group in Edmonton.

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