UK
Government To Fund Insulin
Cell Transplant Therapy
The National Health Service in the UK is to roll
out a programme of insulin cell therapy to help type 1
diabetics to avoid coma
inducing hypoglycaemic attacks. The government are
investing an initial ten million pounds [$19.6 million
USD] in the programme which will introduce insulin cell
therapy to six NHS trusts across the country. Diabetes
experts hope that the therapy can be enhanced in the
future to provide a cure for type 1
diabetes.
How does insulin
cell therapy work?
Insulin cell therapy originated in Canada in
2000, and was first trialled in the UK in
2002. Insulin producing cells, or
islet cells, are taken from the pancreas of a dead donor
and inserted via injection into the liver of the patient.
Type 1 diabetics are usually unable to produce insulin
themselves, but an injection of fully functioning islet
cells can enable them to manufacture insulin for a period
of time.
Huge increase in
availability of insulin cell
therapy
Although
there are a quarter of a million type 1 diabetics in the UK,
only twelve patients have so far undergone insulin cell
therapy. These are patients that are
considered to be at particularly high risk of a hypoglycaemic
attack, or low blood sugar episode, which can lead to a coma
and even death. With the latest government investment in this
treatment, up to eighty type 1 diabetics will be able to have
this therapy each
year.
Insulin cell
therapy as a cure for type 1
diabetes
As well as reducing the risk of a low blood
sugar attack, some type 1 diabetics that have undergone
insulin cell therapy have been able to stop their insulin
injections temporarily. This has lead medical experts to
believe that in time insulin cell therapy will provide a
cure for type 1 diabetes.
This
therapy is not a permanent cure and it is believed that regular
cell implants will be required for the benefits to continue.
Patients will also need to take immunosuppressant medication on
an ongoing basis to stop their immune system from fighting the
implanted
cells.
Government to fund
six trusts and two laboratories
As well
as funding insulin cell therapy programmes at six NHS trusts
located in London, Oxford, Newcastle, Bristol and Manchester,
the UK Department of Health will also fund two new
laboratories. These will be located in
London and Oxford and will be used to harvest cells from donor
pancreases and prepare them for
transplant.
Although
the UK government are spending a considerable amount on the
insulin cell therapy programme, they believe it will save the
NHS money in the long term. Serious low
blood sugar episodes cost the NHS at least fifteen million
pounds annually [$29.4 million USD], just to pay for ambulance
calls and hospitalisations. Limiting the
occurrence of hypoglycaemic attacks will reduce this cost,
freeing up funds to be invested in further research into
insulin cell
therapy.
Diabetes expert Professor Stephanie Amiel, based
at King's College Hospital, said "Allowing King's and the other centres to
continue to offer this life-changing treatment will have
enormous benefit for those patients who are suitable for
islet transplantation in its present form. It will also
allow the UK to develop the technique to be suitable for
more people with type 1 diabetes and may, in time, lead
to a 'cure'."
Author: Lisa
Janse
Copyright 2007 - www.sugardiabetes.net
- Insulin Cell Transplant
Therapy
|