Islet Cell Transplant Update

Islet Cell Transplant Update

It has been 20 years since the famous “Edmonton Protocol” cured a handful of people with type-1 diabetes of their need for insulin injections.  Unfortunately, they all required toxic levels of immunosuppression to keep the transplanted islet cells functioning.  Since then, a variety of techniques have been developed to hopefully bring a less-taxing cure to the Type-1 community.

JDRF is the major funder of islet- and beta-cell replacement research.  To see a summary of the latest programs and approaches, JDRF has put together a wonderful 30-minute video.  It’s a bit heavy on science, but there are some excellent illustrations to help it all make sense.