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Is This It??

© Jeni Tambush

The islet cell transplant research being done at the University of Alberta in Canada is so promising that the New England Journal of Medicine released the findings of the study early this month much ahead of it's scheduled publication date of July 27th. You can read the abstracts of the study at the NEJM website by going to http://www.nejm.org/content/shapiro/

Media attention immediately focused on the study proclaiming that a cure for juvenile diabetes has been found. A simple procedure transplanting donated islet cells by injecting them into the side of a diabetes patient's body near the liver where they immediately begin producing insulin, eliminating the need for injected insulin. So far the researchers have had a success rate of 100% with the transplants and there are now at least seven people that used to have diabetes that no longer have the need for injected insulin. Erratic glucose levels, the highs and the lows are now a thing of the past for these fortunate individuals.

So is this the 'cure' that we've all been so desperate for? The initial results seem to indicate that the day of a cure for our loved ones is definitely on the horizon and getting closer to becoming a reality. Islet cell transplants have been done before with dismal results but the researchers at the University of Alberta have developed a new method of islet cell transplantation called the 'Edmonton Protocol' and have proven what everyone has long suspected; that the only way to cure Type I diabetes is to replace the destroyed islet cells. Ideally it had always been presumed that a 'cure' would be one that excluded the need for toxic anti-rejection drugs that can cause more problems than the initial diabetes. The Edmonton Protocol utilizes less toxic, non-steroid immunnosuppressants but they are still anti-rejection drugs that must be taken for the rest of the patient's life nonetheless.

So do we have a valid reason for hope with the release of this study? While clinical trials must still be done in order to establish the long-term effectiveness and safety of the Edmonton Protocol, it appears that at long last, research is at long last, headed in the right direction. Still, if the clinical trials come out with excellent data and results, there is still one more MAJOR obstacle to overcome: Where will the needed unlimited supply of donor islet cells come from? The Edmonton Protocol has required the islet cells of two cadaver donors to 'cure' one diabetes patient. There simply are not enough organ donors to cure even a very small percentage of people with juvenile diabetes. Without a plentiful supply of islet cells available for transplantation can we say with confidence that there is indeed a cure for our loved one in the near future?

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