4 ms·

Islet transplantation may correct type 1 diabetes, study says

48 points by aethertap 10y ago

andyfleming 10y ago
Will this be able to be used in combination with the growth of Beta cells? (http://hsci.harvard.edu/diabetes-0 http://hsci.harvard.edu/diabetes-0)
andyfleming 10y ago
I imagine this approach is less effective than another recent approach where they put "insulin-making islet cells onto a layer of fat in the recipient’s abdomen", right? (http://www.endocrineweb.com/news/diabetes/17843-no-more-insulin-shots-thanks-new-type-islet-cell-transplant http://www.endocrineweb.com/news/diabetes/17843-no-more-insu...)
lolc 10y ago
As a type 1 I'm obviously interested in such development. But if they do it only "for people unable to safely control type 1 diabetes" there must be a serious downside. Ah, they only say this in the image caption but you have to take the immunosuppressives forever to keep the injected cells. Some of my own cells are still alive so I could just start taking these drugs to protect them from my immune system. I don't think I want to though.
- andyfleming 10y ago
  There is another technology that, I think, MIT developed which is a sort of envelope for cells that can protect them from antibodies without immunosuppressive drugs.
  - andyfleming 10y ago
    "researchers have designed a material that can be used to encapsulate human islet cells" – http://news.mit.edu/2016/pancreatic-cells-diabetes-treatment-insulin-injections-0125 http://news.mit.edu/2016/pancreatic-cells-diabetes-treatment...
- dnautics 10y ago
  I think this is a huge huge development because in my opinion, islets of langerhans are going to be one of the first organs to be successfully generated using stem cells and transplanted into patients, mostly because of the relative simplicity of their structure (only a handful of cell types, their fragmented nature). Demonstrating that a allotransplant works is the first step to getting a working stem cell transplant procedure (not currently necessary for most organs because allotransplantation is already known)
- ajtaylor 10y ago
  My coworker has type 1 and she said that life for her using the immunosuppressive drugs would be much worse since she has hers under control with a pump & continuous monitoring. But she also said that she knew someone who had gone blind, had kidneys shutdown, etc because they couldn't control it. This study seems to be targeted more at this class of type 1 diabetics.
- rcthompson 10y ago
  Yes, pretty much any transplant recipient needs to do this to keep their immune system from recognizing the transplant as "foreign" and attacking it. This is an active area of research in immunology.
manicdee 10y ago
Grafting islets onto kidneys was being trialled in rats a decade ago. It pains me to see how slowly medical science progresses.
ivan_ah 10y ago
Very interesting and promising. A related approach is to implant the islets in a "pocket" under the skin, which supposedly is easier to monitor and requires less immuno-suppressing drugs [1,2]. [1] http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v33/n5/full/nbt.3216.html http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v33/n5/full/nbt.3216.html "mirrored" here http://www.cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/Papers/islets_nbt.3216.pdf http://www.cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/Papers/islets_nbt.3216.pdf [2] http://www.pnas.org/content/110/47/19054.full.pdf http://www.pnas.org/content/110/47/19054.full.pdf

48 points by aethertap 10y ago

Will this be able to be used in combination with the growth of Beta cells? (http://hsci.harvard.edu/diabetes-0 http://hsci.harvard.edu/diabetes-0)

andyfleming 10y ago

I imagine this approach is less effective than another recent approach where they put "insulin-making islet cells onto a layer of fat in the recipient’s abdomen", right? (http://www.endocrineweb.com/news/diabetes/17843-no-more-insulin-shots-thanks-new-type-islet-cell-transplant http://www.endocrineweb.com/news/diabetes/17843-no-more-insu...)

lolc 10y ago

As a type 1 I'm obviously interested in such development. But if they do it only "for people unable to safely control type 1 diabetes" there must be a serious downside. Ah, they only say this in the image caption but you have to take the immunosuppressives forever to keep the injected cells. Some of my own cells are still alive so I could just start taking these drugs to protect them from my immune system. I don't think I want to though.

andyfleming 10y ago
There is another technology that, I think, MIT developed which is a sort of envelope for cells that can protect them from antibodies without immunosuppressive drugs.
- andyfleming 10y ago
  "researchers have designed a material that can be used to encapsulate human islet cells" – http://news.mit.edu/2016/pancreatic-cells-diabetes-treatment-insulin-injections-0125 http://news.mit.edu/2016/pancreatic-cells-diabetes-treatment...
dnautics 10y ago
I think this is a huge huge development because in my opinion, islets of langerhans are going to be one of the first organs to be successfully generated using stem cells and transplanted into patients, mostly because of the relative simplicity of their structure (only a handful of cell types, their fragmented nature). Demonstrating that a allotransplant works is the first step to getting a working stem cell transplant procedure (not currently necessary for most organs because allotransplantation is already known)
ajtaylor 10y ago
My coworker has type 1 and she said that life for her using the immunosuppressive drugs would be much worse since she has hers under control with a pump & continuous monitoring. But she also said that she knew someone who had gone blind, had kidneys shutdown, etc because they couldn't control it. This study seems to be targeted more at this class of type 1 diabetics.
rcthompson 10y ago
Yes, pretty much any transplant recipient needs to do this to keep their immune system from recognizing the transplant as "foreign" and attacking it. This is an active area of research in immunology.

manicdee 10y ago

Grafting islets onto kidneys was being trialled in rats a decade ago. It pains me to see how slowly medical science progresses.

ivan_ah 10y ago

Very interesting and promising. A related approach is to implant the islets in a "pocket" under the skin, which supposedly is easier to monitor and requires less immuno-suppressing drugs [1,2]. [1] http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v33/n5/full/nbt.3216.html http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v33/n5/full/nbt.3216.html "mirrored" here http://www.cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/Papers/islets_nbt.3216.pdf http://www.cnd.mcgill.ca/~ivan/Papers/islets_nbt.3216.pdf [2] http://www.pnas.org/content/110/47/19054.full.pdf http://www.pnas.org/content/110/47/19054.full.pdf