A Promising Start

Baylor's first islet cell transplant brings excellent results

Unless you live with type 1 diabetes, it might be difficult to understand the significance of seeing dramatic improvements in your blood sugar levels-and being able to take less insulin than you have in the past.

But for Jennifer Shannon, a 26-year-old elementary school teacher from Saginaw, Texas, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 3, these changes mean a world of difference to her quality of life.

Shannon considers herself "truly blessed" to be the first participant in a research study of islet cell transplantation to treat type 1 diabetes. This two-year study at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas involves 15 men and women between the ages of 18 and 65 with type 1 diabetes.

To perform an islet cell transplant, physicians surgically remove insulin-secreting islet cells from a deceased donor's pancreas. Those cells are then injected into the liver of a patient with type 1 diabetes, where they can anchor and begin producing insulin.

A Life-Changing Difference
For people with type 1 diabetes-whose bodies don't produce insulin-severe fluctuations in blood sugar levels can be a fact of life, even when they scrupulously follow their treatment regimen. Those fluctuations eventually can lead to complications such as blindness, heart attacks and kidney failure. Plus, they can be physically exhausting.

"It's amazing how much difference there's been in the way I feel," Shannon says. "I still have to take insulin, but a lot less, and my blood sugar stays pretty much normal all day long."

Shannon underwent two separate procedures in which she received infusions of islet cells. She stayed in the hospital overnight after each procedure and was back at work soon after. And within less than two weeks, she began seeing marked improvements in her blood sugar levels.

Hope For the Future
Although Shannon would love to be able to stop taking insulin altogether, she agrees with her physician that normalized blood sugar levels would be a terrific outcome.

"It's extremely exciting to see this sort of promise coming to the bedside," says Marlon Levy, M.D., attending transplant surgeon and medical director of the islet cell transplant program on the medical staff at Baylor Dallas. "We're cautiously optimistic, and we're thrilled to be able to develop this technology to help people in our area."

More islet cell transplants will be performed at Baylor as organs become available. Dr. Levy plans additional studies, including a proposed multi-center trial with other medical institutions.

By Amy Lynn Smith

Although new patients currently are not being enrolled in Baylor's study, there may be openings in the future. For more information, call the Baylor diabetes research hotline at (214) 818-7155.