For decades, diabetes researchers have been searching for ways to replace the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas that are destroyed by a patient's own immune system. Now it appears that this may be possible. Each year, diabetes affects more people and causes more deaths than breast cancer and AIDS combined. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States today, with nearly 200,000 deaths reported each year.
Diabetes is actually a group of diseases characterized by abnormally high levels of the sugar glucose in the bloodstream. This excess glucose is responsible for most of the complications of diabetes, which include blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke, neuropathy, and amputations. Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile-onset diabetes, typically affects children and young adults. Diabetes develops when the body's immune system sees its own cells as foreign and attacks and destroys them. As a result, the islet cells of the pancreas, which normally produce insulin, are destroyed. In the absence of insulin, glucose cannot enter the cell and glucose accumulates in the blood. Type 2 diabetes, also called adult-onset diabetes, tends to affect older, sedentary, and overweight individuals with a family history of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body cannot use insulin effectively. This is called insulin resistance and the result is the same as with type 1 diabetes—a build up of glucose in the blood.
More recently, James Shapiro and his colleagues in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, have developed an experimental protocol for transplanting islet cells that involves using a much larger amount of islet cells and a different type of immunosuppressant therapy. In a recent study, they report that, seven of seven patients who received islet cell transplants no longer needed to take insulin, and their blood glucose concentrations were normal a year after surgery.
Insulin production takes place by B(beta) cells of islets of langerhans of pancreas. So it is also necessary to know how exactly the development of pancreas takes place!
In mammals, the pancreas contains three classes of cell types: the ductal cells, the acinar cells, and the endocrine cells. The endocrine cells produce the hormones glucagon, somatostatin, pancreatic polypeptide (PP), and insulin, which are secreted into the blood stream and help the body regulate sugar metabolism. The acinar cells are part of the exocrine system, which manufactures digestive enzymes, and ductal cells from the pancreatic ducts, which connect the acinar cells to digestive organs. In humans, the pancreas develops as an outgrowth of the duodenum, a part of the small intestine. The cells of both the exocrine system—the acinar cells—and of the endocrine system—the islet cells—seem to originate from the ductal cells during development. During development these endocrine cells emerge from the pancreatic ducts and form aggregates that eventually form what is known as Islets of Langerhans. In humans, there are four types of islet cells: the insulin-producing beta cells; the alpha cells, which produce glucagon; the delta cells, which secrete somatostatin; and the PP-cells, which produce pancreatic polypeptide. The hormones released from each type of islet cell have a role in regulating hormones released from other islet cells. In the human pancreas, 65 to 90 percent of islet cells are beta cells, 15 to 20 percent are alpha-cells, 3 to 10 percent are delta cells, and one percent is PP cells. Acinar cells form small lobules contiguous with the duct. The resulting pancreas is a combination of a lobulated, branched acinar gland that forms the exocrine pancreas, and, embedded in the acinar gland, the Islets of Langerhans, which constitute the endocrine pancreas. please refer to the image below:
This can result in permanent cure of diabetes.
However type1 diabetes may prove to be especially difficult to cure, because the cells are destroyed when the body's own immune system attacks and destroys them. This autoimmunity must be overcome if researchers hope to use transplanted cells to replace the damaged ones. Many researchers believe that at least initially, immunosuppressive therapy similar to that used in the Edmonton protocol will be beneficial. A potential advantage of embryonic cells is that, in theory, they could be engineered to express the appropriate genes that would allow them to escape or reduce detection by the immune system.
(Edmonton protocol: uses combination of immunosuppressive drugs)
What are the benefits and risks of islet transplantation?
The goal of islet transplantation is to infuse enough islets to control the blood glucose level without insulin injections. Other benefits may include improved glucose control and prevention of potentially dangerous episodes of hypoglycemia. Because good control of blood glucose can slow or prevent the progression of complications associated with diabetes, such as heart disease, kidney disease, and nerve or eye damage, a successful transplant may reduce the risk of these complications.
