Diabetes research. Islet transplants not yet ready for prime time.
When researchers in Edmonton, Canada, announced last month that a new procedure for transplanting pancreatic islet cells had freed seven adults with type I diabetes from taking insulin, the results generated a great deal of public enthusiasm. Some important caveats tended to get lost, however. One drawback is that transplant recipients would need to take immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of their lives to keep from rejecting the tissue. But more importantly, even if the benefits of the transplants outweigh the risks of the drugs, there's just not enough islet tissue to go around and there won't be anytime soon.
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D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002455:Cell Division; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000601:surgery*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007328:Insulin / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation; D051379:Mice; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D014019:Tissue Donors
D001786:Blood Glucose; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D007328:Insulin