Islet & Pancreas Transplant

First we find out that our belly fat is an endocrine organ, and now it's our bones. Dr. Gerard Karsenty of Columbia University has discovered that bone-building cells (osteoblasts) secrete a hormone called osteocalcin that not only tells the beta cells to secrete more insulin, but also causes the number of beta cells themselves to increase.

0 comments - Nov 18, 2007 -

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Company Reports that Pig Cells are Producing Insulin in Two People

Living Cells Technologies (LCT) has announced that their Moscow trial of pig cell implantation, which began in June, is well underway: In September, the second of six type 1 patients was injected with 5,000 "islet equivalents per kilogram" of Diabecells into the peritoneal cavity.

4 comments - Nov 14, 2007 -

An Oxygen Sandwich Helps Pancreatic Stem Cells Become Beta Cells

Despite their best efforts, researchers have been having a hard time getting pancreatic stem cells to grow up into beta cells that can be used for transplantation.

0 comments - Sep 27, 2007 -

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Fat: Pronounced Guilty in Death of Transplanted Beta Cells

When islet cells are transplanted into a person, they don't go into their usual home in the pancreas. Instead, they're injected into the portal vein, the large vein that feeds the liver with rich fats and sugars from the digestive system.

0 comments - Sep 15, 2007 -

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Pig Islets Transplanted into Human With Type 1 Diabetes

Recently we wrote that Living Cell Technologies (LCT), a New Zealand company, was about to begin transplanting pig islets into humans in a year-long Phase I/IIA clinical trial in Moscow, Russia ("Piglet Islets Soon Tested in Humans").

Comments 1 comment - Jul 12, 2007 -

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Cord Blood Stem Cells Engineered to Produce Insulin

Given that babies are born by the cartloads every day, cord blood is an easy source of fetal stem cells, especially because it’s free of the controversy surrounding embryonic stem cells.

0 comments - Jun 25, 2007 -

New Insulin-Secreting Beta Cells Come From Beta Cell Division, Not From Adult Stem Cells

Researchers from Philadelphia have just discovered that beta cells, the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, divide, albeit slowly, to make new beta cells. Adult stem cells, which are precursors of new skin, intestines, and other tissues, apparently do not differentiate into beta cells or other pancreatic tissue.

Comments 1 comment - Jun 2, 2007 -

New Zealand Pig Islet Trial One Step Closer to Reality

Eight New Zealanders with type 1 diabetes are hoping to receive pig islet transplantations by the end of the year, now that the company Living Cell Technologies (LCT) has surmounted the first of three regulatory hurdles in pursuit of permission for a twelve-month trial in New Zealand.

0 comments - May 15, 2007 -

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Joslin Diabetes Center-led Study Indicates Insulin Receptors Play a Critical Role in Promoting Islet Growth to Overcome Insulin Resistance

A recent Joslin-led study has identified the insulin receptor as an important protein that promotes islet cell growth in mice whose bodies are unable to use insulin properly, or are insulin resistant, a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

0 comments - Apr 23, 2007 -

Hope for a Type 1 Diabetes Cure? 15 Patients Off Insulin After Stem Cell Treatment

Researchers from Sao Paulo in Brazil have announced that in a group of fifteen insulin-requiring, newly-diagnosed patients with type 1 diabetes, stem cell therapy has preserved beta cell function and eliminated the need for insulin for up to 35 months so far.

5 comments - Apr 12, 2007 -

Islet & Pancreas Transplant

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