Islet Cell Transplant Research

Baylor received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to begin a research study of islet cell transplantation in July 2004. Fifteen patients, both men and women, between the ages of 18 and 65 will be enrolled in the study. Nationwide, more than one million people have Type 1 (juvenile onset) diabetes, and, each year, nearly 130,000 people receive kidney transplants as a result of the disease.

In the clinical trial, physicians will surgically remove islet (insulin-secreting) cells from a deceased donor pancreas and inject the cells into the liver of a patient with Type I diabetes. Investigators believe the islet cells will anchor in the liver where they will receive blood and nutrients and potentially begin to produce insulin. In patients with Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas fails to produce insulin.