Benefits of Islet Transplantation as an Alternative to Pancreas Transplantation: Retrospective Study of More Than 10 Ten Years of Experience in a Single Center.

Background: Pancreas transplantation (PTx) represents the method of choice in type 1 diabetic patients with conservatively intractable hypoglycemia unawareness syndrome. In 2005, the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) launched a program to investigate the safety potential of islet transplantation (ITx) in comparison to PTx.

Aim: This study aims to compare the results of PTx and ITx regarding severe hypoglycemia elimination, metabolic control, and complication rate.

[Islet transplantation as a treatment for hypoglycemia unawareness syndrome. Evaluation of the pilot program and comparison with pancreas transplantation].

Islet transplantation (ITx) started in 2005 in IKEM as a potentially safer alternative to pancreas transplantation (PTx), which so far had represented the method of choice in type-1 diabetic patients with conservatively intractable hypoglycemia unawareness syndrome. The aim of the study was to compare these two methods with regard to severe hypoglycemia elimination and to frequency of complications.Up to November 2015 a total number of 48 patients underwent ITx.

The effects of DPP-IV inhibition in NOD mice with overt diabetes.

Sitagliptin is a dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitor that exerts an anti-hyperglycaemic effect by preventing degradation of glucagon-like peptide 1 with subsequent β-cell stimulation and potential regeneration. We tested whether sitagliptin therapy in symptomatic non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice would lead to changes in the immune cell profile, improve β-cell survival and induce diabetes remission. Flow cytometry analysis of immune cells in the spleen and peripheral lymph nodes, immunohistology of the pancreas and DPP-IV activity were investigated in diabetic NOD mice, either treated or non-treated with sitagliptin, at 0, 7, 14 and 28 days after hyperglycaemia onset, and in non-diabetic NOD controls.

Processing of superparamagnetic iron contrast agent ferucarbotran in transplanted pancreatic islets.

Labeling of pancreatic islets with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles enables their post-transplant monitoring by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although the nanoparticles are incorporated into islet cells in culture, little is known about their fate in vivo. We studied the morphology of labeled islets after transplantation, aiming to identify the MRI contrast particles and their relationship to transplantation outcomes.

Immunoregulatory effect of anti-thymocyte globulin monotherapy on peripheral lymphoid tissues of non-obese diabetic mice.

Objective: Experimental and clinical studies have shown that autoimmunity-causing diabetes may be abrogated by immune intervention. Several anti-T-lymphocyte antibodies focus on distinct T-cell targets. We tested the effect of murine anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG; Genzyme, Framingham, MA) in peripheral lymphoid organs of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice after the onset of hyperglycemia.