title: Establishing a cGMP pancreatic islet processing facility: the first experience in Iran.
abstract: It has been predicted that one of the greatest increase in prevalence of diabetes will happen in the Middle East bear in the next decades. The aim of standard therapeutic strategies for diabetes is better control of complications. In contrast, some new strategies like cell and gene therapy have aimed to cure the disease. In recent years, significant progress has occurred in beta-cell replacement therapies with a progressive improvement of short-term and long term outcomes. In year 2005, considering the impact of the disease in Iran and the promising results of the Edmonton protocol, the funding for establishing a current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) islet processing facility by Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center was approved by Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Several islet isolations were performed following establishment of cGMP facility and recruitment of all required equipments for process validation and experimental purpose. Finally the first successful clinical islet isolation and transplantation was performed in September 2010. In spite of a high cost of the procedure it is considered beneficial and may prevent long term complications and the costs associated with secondary cares. In this article we will briefly describe our experience in setting up a cGMP islet processing facility which can provide valuable information for regional countries interested to establish similar facilities.
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shariati Hospital, North Kargar Avenue, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Bagher
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Larijani
authors.forename: Babak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Arjmand
authors.forename: Mahsa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Amoli
authors.forename: Ziliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ao
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jafarian
authors.forename: Mitra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahdavi-Mazdah
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ghanaati
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baradar-Jalili
authors.forename: Sasan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharghi
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Norouzi-Javidan
authors.forename: Hamid Reza
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Aghayan
mesh_terms: D005161:Facility Regulation and Control; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000166:cytology; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation; D014015:Tissue Banks / Q000592:standards*