title: Current status of clinical islet transplantation.
abstract: Islet transplantation is currently being explored as a treatment for patients with type 1 diabetes. At present, the number of patients becoming insulin-independent is rapidly increasing world-wide applying the transplantation protocol originally described by the group in Edmonton. A hallmark in this procedure is repeated infusions of islets obtained from 2 to 4 donors until normoglycemia is achieved. In order to establish islet transplantation as a widely accepted treatment modality, and make tolerance induction regimes applicable, it is essential that the donor:recipient ratio is brought down to 1:1. A conceivable strategy to achieve this goal in clinical islet transplantation is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Oncology and Clinical Immunology, Division of Clinical Immunology, The Rudbeck Laboratory, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden. Olle.Korsgren@klinimm.uu.se
authors.forename: Olle
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Korsgren
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berne
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Felldin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Foss
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kallen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lundgren
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Salmela
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tibell
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tufveson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000601:surgery*; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation / Q000276:immunology / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D016896:Treatment Outcome