Breaking the Diabetes Transplant Barrier Animal studies lead the way toward insulin independence FBR Facts Vol. Prior to the procedure, all of them had needed up to 15 self-injected insulin shots per day. This success rate was unprecedented, and contrasted sharply with previous islet transplant experience.
Islets are clusters of cells in the pancreas that produce insulin and other hormones.
In type 1 diabetes these cells are destroyed by the body's own immune system in an autoimmune process that scientists are working hard to understand. The Edmonton team used a combination of three steroid-free drugs. The FDA approved the other two drugs, Tacrolimus and Daclizumab, in 1994 in 1997 respectively. Rapamune is a crucial part of the treatment, Shapiro said, because it can be given in low doses and does not have some of the side effects of most immune suppressants. The discovery was considered so important that the New England Journal of Medicine announced the team's preliminary findings six weeks in advance of the July 27 scheduled publication date for the full study.