DUARTE, Calif., April 14, 2009 — Human pancreatic islet cell research holds promise for potential new treatments for type 1 diabetes, according to a paper by City of Hope researchers published in the April 15 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). John S. Kaddis, B.S., a support scientist in City of Hope’s Department of Information Sciences and lead author of the paper, presented the article at a JAMA press briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on April 14.
An estimated 3 million Americans have type 1 diabetes and more than 15,000 children are diagnosed with the disease each year. In patients with type 1 diabetes, the immune system destroys specific types of islet cells located in the pancreas called beta cells that produce insulin. Islet cell transplantation is an investigational treatment in which islets cells are taken from a donated pancreas, purified, processed and then transplanted into a patient with type 1 diabetes to replace the damaged beta cells. Researchers hope that islet transplantation will help people with type 1 diabetes live without daily injections of insulin.
“The primary objective of islet-based research is to one day cure diabetes,” said Kaddis. “Except for one trial case in type 2 diabetes, islet transplantation has been used exclusively for a subset of individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus and was shown, at least temporarily, to improve glucose control and, in a few cases, to lead to insulin independence.”
Islet cell transplantation has provided significant improvement in patients’ quality of life and protects against long-term complications resulting from diabetes, such as nerve damage, loss of vision and cardiovascular disease. In the JAMA paper, Kaddis cites obstacles that islet cell researchers need to overcome to develop islet cell transplantation into a standard therapy for type 1 diabetes, including issues with supply and cost of human islets.
The Islet Cell Resource (ICR) Center Consortium was founded in 2001 as a cooperative global effort to provide islet cells to advance research while also improving the technology and science of harvesting and preparing islet cells for these efforts. The paper reports that 14 ICR centers produced close to 300 million islet cells between 2001 to 2008 for 151 scientists around the world in 182 research projects, with 67 percent dedicated to basic science research and 31 percent used for clinical research trials.
“Islet cells can be difficult and expensive to isolate from the pancreas of the donor, and a consistent supply of high quality islets are needed for the many basic science research and clinical transplantation projects around the country,” said Joyce Niland, Ph.D., the Edward and Estelle Alexander Chair in Information Sciences and senior author of the paper. “We need to encourage more organ donations in order to have a consistent supply of islet cells for both treatment and research.”
Niland directs the ICR national coordinating center located at City of Hope. “As the coordinating center for this effort, we developed a computer program to automate and efficiently coordinate the complex process of distributing islet cells to researchers according to need, priority and time constraints,” said Niland. “Islet cell transplantation has demonstrated value that should be further developed with continued research.”
The paper concludes that pancreatic islet cells are a promising avenue of research to restore beta cell production of insulin in patients with type 1 diabetes. The most critical factor in advancing research in understand the biology of islet cells is ensuring that there are enough cells for researchers to continue their efforts in developing effective new treatments for type 1 diabetes.