| Novel Device for Cell Therapy |
| Transplantation of pancreatic Langerhans islets into subcutaneous, neovascularized devices is one of the possibilities currently explored as part of a search for a cure of diabetes as such transplantations could normalize metabolic control in a way that has been virtually impossible to achieve with exogenous insulin. Syngeneic islets transplanted into a subcutaneous, neovascularized device have been recently shown to restore euglycemia and sustain function long-term in a rat model. |
| Diabetes is an increasing worldwide problem, and the need for diabetes-focused
drug discovery is well underlined by the fact that whereas mortality rates for heart attacks, breast cancer, and stroke have significantly improved in the US since the 1980s due to the introduction of new drugs and therapeutic methods, they increased for diabetes. The incidence of Type 1 Diabetes has also increased while the age of onset has decreased by 3–5 years over the past decade for yet unknown reasons. |
The novel approach requires much smaller doses than a traditional
systemic immunosuppression since therapeutically active concentration levels have to be maintained only within the device (by local delivery). Therefore, the serious toxic side effects and the susceptibility for opportunistic infections, the main problems associated with systemic therapies, should be avoidable even if long-time treatment is needed to provide protection against rejection and maintain function. |
| Camillo Ricordi |
