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.

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.

Improved detection of pancreatic islets in vivo using double contrast.

The transplantation of pancreatic islets containing β-cells, which produce insulin, is an alternative approach to the treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus. The non-invasive visualization of transplanted islets can be performed using MRI; however, this requires labeling of the islets with a suitable contrast agent prior to transplantation. The detection of islets labeled by iron oxide-based contrast agents and transplanted into the liver tissue can be significantly improved using the intravenous administration of a suitable gadolinium contrast agent prior to MRI.

[Islet transplantation for treatment of type-1 diabetes mellitus].

Background: Organ pancreas transplantation represents the only method enabling long-term normalization of glucose metabolism in type-1 diabetic subjects so far. Unfortunately, surgical complications of this kind of therapy are still frequent. As a safer alternative, transplantation of isolated pancreatic islets was introduced at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine as a clinical experiment in the year 2005.

Labeling of pancreatic islets with iron oxide nanoparticles for in vivo detection with magnetic resonance.

In vitro labeling of pancreatic islets with iron nanoparticles enables their direct posttransplant visualization by magnetic resonance; however, there is still a discrepancy in the fate of iron nanoparticles. This study was performed to detail the labeling process, consequently to improve the labeling efficacy and to confirm safety for islet cells. The islets were visible on T2*-weighted magnetic resonance images as hypointense spots immediately after 1-hr cultivation.

Anti-GAD65 reactive peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the pathogenesis of cystic fibrosis related diabetes mellitus.

Objective: A role of autoreactive T cells for type 1 diabetes pathogenesis is considered crucial. In our pilot study we addressed if autoreactive mononuclear cells are present also in peripheral blood of patients with other specific forms of diabetes as cystic fibrosis related diabetes (CFRD).

Methods: Cellular immune responses to a known beta-cell autoantigen (GAD65 and GAD65 derived peptides) were analysed by ELISPOT (IFN-gamma) and by protein microarray analysis in four patients suffering from CFRD, in four cystic fibrosis (CF) patients without diabetes, in eight type 1 diabetes patients (without CF) and in four healthy controls.