World Leader in Pancreas Transplant and Islet Transplant

The Transplant Center—Islet transplantation to treat diabetes

The University of Minnesota’s Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation (DIIT) is one of six leading centers in the world perfecting the use of donated pancreatic islet cells (allo-islet) for transplantation as a treatment and potential cure for diabetes. Islet transplant does not require major surgery and has succeeded in reversing diabetes and achieving insulin independence in about 80 percent of recipients. This treatment is available for those who qualify through a clinical study at the DIIT (visit the DIIT Web site).

For some patients, this far less invasive procedure than a pancreas transplant can restore the role of the pancreas with a transplant of the islets of Langerhans — tiny structures in the pancreas that contain insulin-producing beta cells.

Normal insulin-producing islet cells.

Islet transplantation requires only a local anesthetic and takes about 60 minutes. The islets are injected into the liver where they secrete insulin directly into the circulatory system to control blood sugars. Bernhard Hering, M.D., an assistant professor of surgery and medicine at the Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation (DIIT) at the University of Minnesota, heads the islet transplant team.

Dr. Hering is an internationally known endocrinologist with an extensive background in islet cell transplantation. Although islet cell transplants are still considered experimental in the U.S., Dr. Hering is confident this will soon change.

"With the advance of drug therapies that are effective at preserving the islets with less stress on the immune system, we are presented with a number of unparalleled opportunities," says Dr. Hering. "The goal is to make the antirejection treatment safer and to make islet transplantation available to more people earlier in the course of their diabetes."

To see current clinical trials, click here.