NEWS - Pioneering operation gives hope to diabetes sufferers

[Guest guest]

Pioneering operation gives hope to diabetes sufferers

Boseley, health editor

Tuesday April 19, 2005

The Guardian

A Japanese woman is free of the symptoms of diabetes after receiving cells

from her mother's pancreas in the first transplant from a living donor, it

emerged yesterday.

The woman, 27, who had had insulin-dependent diabetes since she was 15, was

given islet cells from her 56-year-old mother's pancreas.

Fears that the donor might become diabetic because of the loss of a

substantial numbers of islet cells appear unfounded.

The operation will be of interest to the millions of people with diabetes

around the world. Islet cells produce insulin, a natural hormone which turns

glucose in the blood into energy. Those whose cells do not produce enough

insulin have to inject themselves with it daily. Small numbers of people

with diabetes have had islet cells transplants from cadavers, but the huge

number of cells needed for each operation has severely restricted the

possibilities.

A paper from Shinichi Matsumoto and colleagues at Kyoto University,

published online by the Lancet medical journal, reveals that the cells from

half the mother's pancreas were sufficient to free the recipient of her

insulin dependency within 22 days. She has now been insulin-free for two

months and her mother has suffered no complications.

The daughter had severe type 1 diabetes and was having " hypos " -

hypoglycaemic attacks in which she lost consciousness - every two days.

There are cultural sensitivities around the use of pancreatic islet cells

from dead donors in Japan, so her mother volunteered.

The researchers say that the outcome was as good as that achieved with the

cells of two or more whole pancreases from dead donors. They think this may

be due to the improved potency of islet cells from a living donor.

The transplant could last for five years, they say, and even if the woman

needs insulin injections in the future, the scientists believe she will be

free of the " hypos " that endanger her life.

In a commentary, Amiel from King's College, London, warns that

these are early days. " Islet transplantation is not yet a perfect

technique, " she says. " Insulin independence is by no means certain. " The

drugs needed to stop the body rejecting the transplanted cells are toxic and

the long-term survival of the cells is unclear.

But up to 25% of people with diabetes suffer from recurrent severe

hypoglycaemia and probably 15% of those cannot be improved using

conventional therapy. While the use of a live donor, with its inherent

dangers, probably cannot be justified in a society where cadavers can be

used, diabetics would be watching the success of the Japanese research

closely, she says.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1462931,00.html

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