Diabetes Type 1 - Insulin Cell Transplant Therapy To Be Rolled Out Across The Uk

Six National Health Service trusts across the UK are to be given nearly ten million pounds [$19.6 million USD] in government funding to provide insulin producing cell transplants to some patients with Type 1 Diabetes. Experts hope that this treatment can be refined over time, leading eventually to a complete cure for the disease which effects a quarter of a million people in the UK alone.

This type of diabetes therapy was first developed in Canada in 2000, and involves harvesting islet cells that produces insulin from the pancreas of a dead donor and injecting them into the liver of the diabetic to be treated. Once injected, these cells begin to produce insulin, something that a type 1 diabetic is naturally unable to do.


Insulin cell transplants are currently recommended for diabetics at a high risk of hypoglycaemia, an extreme low blood sugar attack which can lead to a coma, and even death. Only twelve patients have had this treatment so far in the UK, but with additional funding up to eighty patients will be able to have this therapy each year.

Insulin cell transplant therapy has been successful at reducing the risk of hypoglycaemia in the diabetics that have had the treatment. Some have also found they can stop their daily injections of insulin for a short period. However, this is currently not a permanent solution, and patients will eventually need re-transplants for the therapy to continue to be effective. Patients also need to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent their bodies from rejecting the new cells.

The six centres receiving government funding are King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust London, Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust London, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, North Bristol NHS Trust and Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Trust. The Department of Health will also fund two laboratories in London and Oxford to receive donor pancreases and prepare the cells for transplantation.

The UK government believes that as well as improving quality of life for type 1 diabetics, investing in this breakthrough therapy will save the National Health Service money in the long run. Each year hypoglycaemic attacks cost the NHS over fifteen million pounds [$29.4 million USD] in hospitalisations and ambulances alone, so reducing the risks of these attacks can only have a positive impact on the health service.

Diabetes expert Professor Stephanie Amiel, based at King's College Hospital, said "Allowing King's and the other centres to continue to offer this life-changing treatment will have enormous benefit for those patients who are suitable for islet transplantation in its present form. It will also allow the UK to develop the technique to be suitable for more people with type 1 diabetes and may, in time, lead to a 'cure'."

About the Author

Lisa Janse is a professional writer specialising in health topics. You can read more practical and interesting facts about Symptoms of Diabetes and Diabetes Type 1 at www.sugardiabetes.net

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by: healthar Total views: 15 Word Count: 481 Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 Time: 1:47 PM 0 comments