You Too May Be Able To Be Free Of Insulin Dependence

For diabetics insulin dependence is a way of life. Whether this vital hormone is delivered through syringe injections, jet injectors or pumps, a diabetic will need insulin for the rest of their life. Or will they? In the past ten years there have been amazing advancements in a procedure known as pancreatic islet transplantation. Before addressing this modern breakthrough, we must first understand what diabetes is and how insulin is involved.

Diabetes, especially type 1, is an autoimmune condition that affects the pancreas. The pancreas is a small, normally ignored organ located near the stomach. The pancreas’ entire existence is for the production of hormones and enzymes that are needed by the body to fully digest and absorb food. These elements break down the food we eat into the basic building blocks of energy and nutrition and that is how the body grows, heals and maintains itself. In diabetics the pancreas produces none or too little insulin and the energy rich glucose in the blood stream goes unused causing a whole host of problems.

Pancreatic islet transplantation has been widely known since the summer of 2000, when a group of scientists reported that they had found a way to isolate the needed pancreas tissue that produces insulin. The pancreas contains clusters of cells, particularly beta cells, that manufacture insulin called the islets of Langerhans. By taking these clusters out of cadaver donors and purifying the islets, the scientists were able to transfer them into diabetic patients.

Five years after the transplantation over ten percent of the patients no longer needed daily injections of insulin, their bodies were producing insulin on their own. The remainder of the patients, while still needing insulin at various points, reported that they were more able to reduce their blood sugar levels and achieve stabilization. A second study done in 2006 showed even more promise when over one third of that test group was able to become insulin free.

As with all medical procedures, pancreatic islet transplantation runs some risk to the patient. The largest of these is the rejection of the donor tissue. Leading up to and immediately following the transplant, patients need to take a wide range of immunosuppressive drugs to keep the body from destroying the new tissue as a foreign body. Diabetics already have a suppressed immune system so the addition of these drugs may lead to an increase in infections.

It is the belief of many in the scientific community that with more time pancreatic islet transplantation will be more widely available to a greater number of patients. There are studies under way to grow and harvest other types of these tissues. Work with both swine pancreas and stem cell research is under way to find cheaper and more efficient ways of producing the vital islets of Langerhans. Hopefully in time diabetics will find that one short stay in the hospital for a transplant may reduce or eliminate the need for daily injections of insulin and routine monitoring of their blood glucose levels.