In 1997 diabetes-related illnesses cost the U.S. economy $98 billion. Islet transplantation as a therapeutic modality would improve quality of life of thousands. Advancement of transplant approaches from the experimental to clinical arena faces two major obstacles: the critical storage of human donor pancreases and graft rejection. Sertoli Cell Research Institute has developed a novel cellular therapeutic approach to protect xenogeneic islets chronic immunosuppression. The method uses Sertoli cells to create a local immunologically privileged site that protects islets against rejection. The proposed studies plan to expand on their preliminary promising results with the grafting of cryopreserved porcine islets along with rat Sertoli cells. Thus the feasibility of using composites of porcine Sertoli cells and cryopreserved porcine islets will now be tested in rats with chemical- induced diabetes and in those with type 1 diabetes. In addition, whether humoral or cell-mediated. These data will contributed to the development of our commercial product, to application of our approach in higher animals, and eventually to the xenografting of human diabetics.
Potential commercial applications of our product being developed by Sertoli Cell Research Institute include pharmaceutical products for the treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes, and possibly, also type 2 diabetes.
