FIRST SEATTLE PATIENTS RECEIVE ISLET TRANSPLANTS

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FIRST SEATTLE PATIENTS RECEIVE ISLET TRANSPLANTS

HITS Research Team Advances Diabetes Cure

SEATTLE, August 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Clinical researchers have teamed together to

perform the first human islet transplants in the Northwest. Three patients with

type 1 diabetes received the transplanted islets, enabling them to produce their

own insulin for the first time in decades. Such success, according to the

Seattle team, helps confirm islet transplantation as a potential long-term cure

for diabetes.

One of the recipients, a 35-year-old woman, was diagnosed with diabetes when she

was fourteen. Another recipient, 41 years old now, has had diabetes since she

was 7. She received a simultaneous kidney-islet transplant in a procedure the

Seattle team is pioneering. The third patient, a 44-year-old man, also received

a kidney-islet transplant.

All three patients have now achieved critical post-transplant success in the

management of their blood-sugar levels. All are participating in the Seattle

research program as part of an international evaluation of islet transplantation

funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Research

Foundation.

In type 1 diabetes, insulin-producing cells, clustered together in what are

called islets (pronounced " eye-lets " ), are destroyed so that the body becomes

insulin-deficient. When islets are transplanted from a donated pancreas, they

take up residence in a recipient's liver and secrete insulin to reestablish

normal control of the body's blood sugar metabolism.

The JDRF Center for Human Islet Transplantation in Seattle (HITS) is one of nine

sites testing the islet-only transplant procedure pioneered by the University of

Edmonton in Canada. In addition to testing the Edmonton procedure, the Seattle

researchers are also conducting islet transplants in conjunction with routine

kidney replacement operations for diabetes patients with kidney disease.

Following both procedures, transplant patients take immunosuppressive drugs to

protect the new islets from being rejected.

" This is the goal we've been heading toward for over three years now, " says R.

on, M.D., HITS Program Director and Scientific Director of the

Pacific Northwest Research Institute. " Ever since Edmonton's success, we've

known that islet transplantation can be effective. Now, as Edmonton's results

are being duplicated, this treatment is moving toward becoming a real option for

patients. "

Furlanetto, M.D., the Scientific Director of the Juvenile Diabetes

Research Foundation (JDRF), applauds HITS' success. " We at JDRF are pleased that

HITS is duplicating Edmonton's protocol and extending this transplant to

patients with kidney disease, " Furlanetto says. " This significantly advances the

science of islet transplantation and will allow patients who already have

serious complications to benefit from the procedure. "

The HITS consortium includes six Seattle hospitals and research institutions

engaged in both clinical and basic transplantation research. The clinical sites

are Virginia Mason Research Center, Swedish Medical Center, and the University

of Washington.

" The transplants we have now successfully completed are only the first of ten

planned for this year, " on says. " But the new things we learn will move

us forward in providing hope for the millions of diabetes patients who are still

waiting for the cure to their disease. "

Mark E. Armstrong

NW Rep, PAI

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