Page 6 The Skanner April 20, 2016
News
Study Backs Pancreas Cell Transplants for Severe Diabetes
LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON
—
Transplants of insu-
lin-producing pancreas
cells are a long hoped-for
treatment for diabetes —
and a new study shows
they can protect the most
seriously ill patients
from a life-threatening
complication of the dis-
ease, an important step
toward U.S. approval.
These transplants are
used in some countries
but in the U.S. they’re
available only through
research studies. Armed
with Monday’s fi ndings,
“
therapy is real and works
and off ers tremendous
potential for the right pa-
tient,” said study lead au-
thor Dr. Bernhard Her-
ing of the University of
Minnesota, whose team
plans to seek a Food and
Drug Administration li-
cense for the therapy.
In Type 1 diabetes, the
immune system destroys
the pancreatic cells re-
sponsible for making
insulin,
a
hormone
crucial to converting
blood sugar into energy.
About 1 million Amer-
icans have Type 1 dia-
betes and depend on
regular insulin shots to
Cell-based diabetes therapy
is real and works and off ers
tremendous potential for
the right patient
researchers hope to li-
cense them for use in a
small number of people
with Type 1 diabetes who
are most at risk for drops
in blood sugar so severe
they can lead to seizures,
even death.
“Cell-based
diabetes
survive but still can ex-
perience complications
due to swings in their
blood sugar.
Diabetics who get kid-
ney transplants some-
times also receive pan-
creas transplants at the
same time, essentially
curing their diabetes.
But it’s an uncommon
and grueling operation,
so scientists for years
have worked on a mini-
mally invasive alterna-
tive: Infusing patients
with just islet cells, the
insulin factories inside
the pancreas.
The questions: How
best to obtain those islet
cells from deceased do-
nors, and who benefi ts
most from transplants?
When glucose lev-
els drop too low, most
people with Type 1 dia-
betes experience early
warning signs — slurred
speech, tremors, sweat-
ing, heart palpitations
— so they know to eat or
drink something for a
quick sugar boost. But
even with optimal care,
about 30 percent even-
tually quit experiencing
those symptoms, a con-
dition called hypoglyce-
mia unawareness. They
can be in grave danger if
their blood sugar plum-
mets when no one else is
around to help. Contin-
uous glucose monitors
can counteract that prob-
lem, but even those don’t
help everyone.
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AP PHOTO/REED SAXON, FILE
Minnesota team plans to seek FDA administration license for the therapy, which is closer to approval
In this April 29, 2012 fi le photo, a woman diagnosed with diabetes gives herself an injection of insulin at
her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce, Calif. Transplants of insulin-producing pancreas cells
are a long hoped-for treatment for diabetes, and a new study shows they can protect the most seriously
ill patients from a life-threatening complication, an important step toward U.S. approval.
The National Institutes
of Health targeted that
fraction of highest-risk
patients, funding a study
that gave 48 people at
eight medical centers at
least one islet cell trans-
plant.
A year later, 88 percent
were free of severe hy-
poglycemia events, had
their awareness of blood
sugar dips restored, and
harbored glucose levels
in near-normal ranges.
Two years later, 71 per-
cent of participants still
were faring that well,
concluded the study pub-
lished by the journal Dia-
betes Care.
The goal wasn’t insulin
independence, which re-
quires more functioning
islet cells than merely
restoring blood sugar
awareness. But some pa-
tients — 52 percent aft er
one year — no longer
needed insulin shots and
others used lower doses.
“It’s just an amazing
gift ,” said Lisa Bishop of
Eagle River, Wisconsin,
who received new islet
cells in 2010 and no lon-
ger needs insulin shots.
Bishop recalls the terror
of learning she’d become
hypoglycemic unaware,
and the diffi culty of even
holding a job. She hasn’t
had hypoglycemia since
the transplant and says
if her blood sugar occa-
sionally dips a bit aft er
exercise, “now my body
senses it.”
Another key: The trans-
plants have long been
used experimentally but
diff erent hospitals use
diff erent methods to cull
the islet cells from a do-
nated pancreas and pu-
rify them — and it wasn’t
clear which worked
best, explained Dr. Nan-
cy Bridges, chief of the
transplant branch at
NIH’s National Institute
for Allergy and Infec-
tious Diseases. The FDA
made clear that there had
to be a standard method
for islet cell transplants
if they were ever to be ap-
proved — which is neces-
sary for insurance cover-
age — so the researchers
developed that recipe,
Bridges said.
Side eff ects include
bleeding and infection,
and recipients need life-
long immune-suppress-
ing drugs to avoid reject-
ing their new cells. Even
if given the OK for more
routine use, donated
pancreas cells are in lim-
ited supply.
Still, “it’s a very beau-
tiful study,” said Dr. Julia
Greenstein of the diabe-
tes advocacy organiza-
tion JDRF, who wasn’t in-
volved in the latest
research. “For most peo-
ple in the U.S., this was
not an available choice,
and this is the fi rst step in
making that an available
choice.”
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