Current status of clinical islet transplantation

Islet transplantation is currently being explored as a treatment for patients with type I diabetes. At present, the number of patients becoming insulin-independent is rapidly increasing world-wide applying the transplantation protocol originally described by the group in Edmonton. A hallmark in this procedure is repeated infusions of islets obtained from 2 to 4 donors until normoglycemia is achieved. In order to establish islet transplantation as a widely accepted treatment modality, and make tolerance induction regimes applicable, it is essential that the donorrecipient ratio is brought down to 1: 1. A conceivable strategy to achieve this goal in clinical islet transplantation is discussed.