Diabetes: Successful islet transplant could spell end of insulin dependence
A 61-year old man has become the first person in the UK to be cured of type 1 diabetes, thanks to a revolutionary cell transplant procedure.
The patient, Richard Lane, had suffered from diabetes for over 30 years. He began his pioneering islet treatment with an initial transplant in September 2004, followed by a second transplant a month later and a third and final transplant in January 2005.
Islets are the cells that produce insulin, the hormone that controls sugar levels in the blood. When these cells fail to produce the hormone, diabetes develops.
Islet transplantation takes functioning islets from a donor pancreas and then introduces them into the recipient's liver. The islets should then start to settle and once they begin to receive a blood supply, start to produce insulin as normal.
Although the procedure has had some limited success in other countries, this is the first time that UK specialists have successfully eliminated the need for insulin injections in a type 1 diabetic.
Two other patients who underwent the experimental treatment with Lane still require small doses of insulin as the transplanted islets are not producing enough insulin to successfully regulate blood sugar level.
Professor Stephanie Amiel, leader of the diabetes team at King's College Hospital who carried out the transplant on Lane, said: "The implications for the future are enormous. Eventually this could mean the end of insulin dependence for all type 1 diabetes sufferers."
The development offers hope to the UK's 250,000 type 1 diabetics, although the breakthrough comes after more than 30 years of research into transplanting islet cells. Since 1970, of 405 attempted transplants, 92% of patients were back on insulin within a year.
