AIG develops new method for treating diabetes
Islet transplantation is emerging as an attractive option of cell based
therapy in the treatment of type 1 diabetes and type 3C diabetes.
Currently islet transplantation is offered at a few highly specialized
centers around the world. Since India is predicted to become global
capital for diabetes by 2030, it is essential to establish such centers in
the country.
US researchers are aggressively pursuing ways to improve upon islet cell
isolation and transplantation technology, having made great progress
on the use of isolated islets, pig-derived islets, and stem cells. Scientists
at the Asian Healthcare Foundation (the research wing of Asian Institute
of Gastroenterology, an OMED certified center of excellence for
treatment of pancreatic disease) have achieved significant progress in
isolating, culturing and transplanting pancreatic islets (in simian models),
with a long term interest in establishing islet transplantation center in
India. The aspirations of Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and Schulze
diabetes institute have been recognized by the Indo-US Science and
Technology Forum.
A host of global leaders will participate in the workshop to share their
experiences. Deliberations at the envisaged workshop would aim to
a) Identify key issues in islet transplantation
b) Recognize areas for collaborative research
c) Evolve a road map for establishing islet transplantation centers in india
Results of pancreatic islet transplantation in simians hold out hope for diabetics
In what promises to be a boon for treatment of certain types of diabetes, encouraging results were obtained in pancreatic islet transplantation in simians by researchers from a city hospital, who are all set to try it out in humans on Friday.
Beta cells in pancreas produce insulin to control blood sugar levels. However, due to hereditary, environmental or other causes these cells stop producing insulin in some people forcing them to depend on artificial insulin.
With about 285 million people afflicted with diabetes worldwide, including 62.4 million in India, pancreatic islet transplantation was emerging as an important option in the treatment of type-1 and type-3C diabetes. Islet cell transplantation involving injection of the isolated islet cells into liver was being offered in a few specialised centres in the USA and Europe. However, patients would be required to take immuno-suppressants.
But doctors at the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology have developed a method to transplant islet cells through an encapsulated device without using immuno-suppressants.
Addressing a press conference on the eve of a two-day Indo-US Bilateral Workshop on ‘Pancreatic Islets: From isolation to Transplantation’, chairman of the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG), K. Nageshwar Reddy said that scientists from AIG’s research wing in collaboration with National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) have isolated, cultured and transplanted pancreatic islets in simian models through an immuno-isolation device, doing away with the need to use immuno-suppressants.
A year after transplantation, it was surprisingly found that the isolated cells were not only active, but proliferated. Called ‘theracyte’, the device, a kind of an “artificial pancreas” containing lakhs of islet cells would be inserted under the skin.
The tiny porous gaps in the capsule would not allow the cells to move but allow transmission of insulin into the body and energy into the cells.
Patients have to take immuno-suppressants in current method of Islet cell transplantation
AIG has developed method to transplant islet cells through an encapsulated device
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