title: Xenotransplantation of porcine islet cells as a potential option for the treatment of type 1 diabetes in the future.
abstract: Solid organ and cell transplantation, including pancreatic islets constitute the treatment of choice for chronic terminal diseases. However, the clinical use of allogeneic transplantation is limited by the growing shortage of human organs. This has prompted us to initiate a unique multi-center and multi-team effort to promote translational research in xenotransplantation to bring xenotransplantation to the clinical setting. Supported by the German Research Foundation, an interdisciplinary group of surgeons, internal medicine doctors, diabetologists, material sciences experts, immunologists, cell biologists, virologists, veterinarians, and geneticists have established a collaborative research center (CRC) focusing on the biology of xenogeneic cell, tissue, and organ transplantation. A major strength of this consortium is the inclusion of members of the regulatory bodies, including the Paul-Ehrlich Institute (PEI), infection specialists from the Robert Koch Institute and PEI, veterinarians from the German Primate Center, and representatives of influential ethical and religious institutions. A major goal of this consortium is to promote islet xenotransplantation, based on the extensive expertise and experience of the existing clinical islet transplantation program. Besides comprehensive approaches to understand and prevent inflammation-mediated islet xenotransplant dysfunction [immediate blood-mediated inflammatory reaction (IBMIR)], we also take advantage of the availability of and experience with islet macroencapsulation, with the goal to improve graft survival and function. This consortium harbors a unique group of scientists with complementary expertise under a cohesive program aiming at developing new therapeutic approaches for islet replacement and solid organ xenotransplantation.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Surgical Research at the Walter-Brendel-Centre for Experimental Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reichart
authors.affiliation: Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute Mariensee, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Neustadt, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Niemann
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine III, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chavakis
authors.affiliation: Robert-Koch-Institute, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Denner
authors.affiliation: Medical School of Hannover, Department Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Endocrinology, Diabetology, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jaeckel
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine III, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ludwig
authors.affiliation: Institute for Ethics, History and Theory of Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marckmann
authors.affiliation: Chair of Livestock Biotechnology, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schnieke
authors.affiliation: Transplant Laboratory, Clinic for General,- Visceral-, and Transplantation Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schwinzer
authors.affiliation: Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, Diabetes Zentrum, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seissler
authors.affiliation: Paul-Ehrlich-Institute, Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines, Langen, Germany.
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Tönjes
authors.affiliation: Gene Center, Molecular Animal Breeding and Biotechnology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Klymiuk
authors.affiliation: Gene Center, Molecular Animal Breeding and Biotechnology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine III, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Bornstein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018914:Cells, Immobilized / Q000378:metabolism; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000166:cytology*; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation / Q000276:immunology; D034421:Sus scrofa; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous