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Posted on Apr 20, 2005, 4 p.m.
By Bill Freeman
A Japanese woman has been cured of diabetes via a donor transplant of insulin-producing cells from her mother. It is the first time an islet cell transplant from a living donor has worked. Three months after the operation at Japan's Kyoto University Hospital, both mother and daughter are fit and well, the BBC reported Tuesday.
A Japanese woman has been cured of diabetes via a donor transplant of insulin-producing cells from her mother.
It is the first time an islet cell transplant from a living donor has worked. Three months after the operation at Japan's Kyoto University Hospital, both mother and daughter are fit and well, the BBC reported Tuesday.
Islet cells have previously been taken from dead donors, but the cells were often damaged, hampering their success.
Dr. Shinichi Matsumoto said islets from living donors are more viable and more likely to function properly and using donor cells from a close relation reduces the risk of rejection.
However, the woman must take powerful drugs to stop her rejecting the new cells, according to Matsumoto.
The findings are published in the Lancet.
It is the first time an islet cell transplant from a living donor has worked. Three months after the operation at Japan's Kyoto University Hospital, both mother and daughter are fit and well, the BBC reported Tuesday.
Islet cells have previously been taken from dead donors, but the cells were often damaged, hampering their success.
Dr. Shinichi Matsumoto said islets from living donors are more viable and more likely to function properly and using donor cells from a close relation reduces the risk of rejection.
However, the woman must take powerful drugs to stop her rejecting the new cells, according to Matsumoto.
The findings are published in the Lancet.
