First human trial of pancreatic islet allo-transplantation in Korea—focus on re-transplantation

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, allo-transplantation of islet or whole pancreas for reaching and sustaining near-normoglycemia, as close as possible to the physiological model, have been undertaken. As previously known, even though islet transplantation is possible as a safe re-transplant, it is not well known whether re-transplantation of islets is suitable for patients who have lost the grafted islet function. We have performed a human islet allo-transplantation and re-transplantation on an IDDM patient for the first time in Asia and Korea. The recipient was a 32-year-old male and his insulin requirement was 75–85 U per day. After islet transplantation, the basal C-peptide increased from 0.6 to 2.1 ng/ml and insulin requirement decreased from 80 to 36 U per day, indicating that the grafted islets were functional. However, the grafted islets lost function 70 days after the transplantation. So, we performed re-transplantation of the islets. After the re-transplantation, the glucose profile became more stable and frequent episodes of severe hypoglycemia completely disappeared. His severe neuropathic pain improved dramatically and he could engage his ordinary daily life without any antineuropathic drugs. The success of this re-transplantation is one step closer to becoming a viable alternative for the millions of individuals who are suffering from diabetes.