Pigs and Diabetes

[Guest guest]

Thought this might be of interest.

Pig cells 'may reverse diabetes'

Transplants of insulin-producing cells from pigs could

provide a diabetes cure within a decade, scientists

say.

A US team has reversed the condition in monkeys by

transplanting cell clusters, known as islets, from pig

pancreases, a study in Nature Medicine reports.

UK teams have cured type 1 diabetes by transplanting

human pancreas cells - but donated organs are in short

supply, hence the interest in the pig solution.

The University of Minnesota hope to start trials in

humans by 2009.

The university's researchers argue that

animal-to-human transplants may be necessary to make

islet transplantation a viable solution for the tens

of thousands of people who suffer from diabetes.

To overcome rejection of the pig cells, which has been

a problem in the past with work such as this, the team

worked to perfect a combination of drugs.

With the final drugs regime all five monkey transplant

recipients survived and their diabetes was reversed.

Associate professor of surgery and lead investigator

Bernhard Hering said: " These results suggest it is

feasible to use pig islet cells as a path to a

far-reaching cure for diabetes. "

He said the work had crucially allowed for a better

understanding of the monkey's immune response

following islet transplantation.

This is key if pig islet cells are to be used

ultimately in humans, Professor Hering said.

However, the drugs used to suppress cell rejection

have severe side-effects in human and need to be

refined.

Donor organs

" Now that we have identified critical pathways

involved in immune recognition and rejection of pig

islet transplants, we can begin working on better and

safer therapies with the eventual goal of bringing the

treatment into people, " he added.

Nonetheless, Professor Hering suggested if clinical

trials in humans begin within three years, and

everything goes to plan, the procedure could be used

more widely in humans within a decade.

Trials involving the transplant of islets from a

donated human pancreas to a diabetes patient are

currently ongoing at Oxford's Centre for Diabetes,

Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Once the cells are removed from the donated organ they

are injected directly into the patient's liver in what

is a fairly simple procedure.

If successful, the cells will enable the patient to

make his own insulin, which regulates blood sugar

levels, like non-diabetics.

Preventing rejection

The advantage of islet transplantation is that it

stops patients from having to have the regular insulin

injections.

Jo Brodie, islet project coordinator at Diabetes UK,

said: " A major limiting factor in the use of either

whole pancreas or islet cell transplantation is the

lack of available donor organs.

" This research offers the potential for a new source

of islet cells without the need for patients to be

given anti-rejection drugs which have serious side

effects.

" This research may have huge future potential in the

treatment of people with Type 1 diabetes, but a great

deal more work is needed.

" Also, serious ethical issues still need addressing as

xenotransplantations are not currently undertaken in

the UK. "

'Work to do'

, director of the Oxford islet

transplantation programme, said there was no doubt

islet transplantation could cure a significant number

of people.

" The shortage of donor organs means we either have to

turn to human stem cells or animal cells as an

alternative.

" This is an advance but there's still a lot of work to

be done before we can apply it to humans. "

The Minnesota team is now building bio secure

laboratories that meet US federal regulations for

using animal tissues in humans.

The goal is to have suitable donor pigs available when

the team has refined its methods of preventing the

recipient from rejecting the donated cells.

The heart valves of pigs have been used in hundreds of

thousands of heart transplants, and pig cells have

shown promise in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

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