Oxford Receives Funding Boost for Islet Transplants

Pioneering New Treatment for Type 1 Diabetes

The Oxford Transplant Centre and the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism (OCDEM), at the Churchill Hospital, will be one of just six English hospitals to offer a revolutionary new treatment for hypoglycaemia in a group of people with Type 1 diabetes.

Health Minister Ann Keen has announced that from 1 April 2008, islet cell transplants will be available as a treatment, to selected people with Type 1 diabetes.

The Department of Health will invest up to £2.34 million in islet transplant services in the first year, increasing to a maximum of £7.32 million to meet the predicted annual need in the longer term.

Patients receiving the treatment will be injected with insulin producing islets, taken from a donated human pancreas. Each of them will have suffered from recurrent hypoglycaemia or have had a kidney transplant.

Islets will be harvested from the donor pancreas in the state-of-the-art DRWF Islet Isolation Facility at OCDEM which was opened in 2006 with a £1.2 million grant from the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation (DRWF). The award was made to the Nuffield Department of Surgery, whose researchers are spearheading the cure for insulin-dependent diabetes.

Mr Paul Johnson, Director of the Oxford Islet Transplant Programme and Reader in Paediatric Surgery at the University of Oxford said:

“Over the past few years, pancreatic islet transplantation has achieved considerable clinical success with reversal of life-threatening hypoglycaemia and some patients achieving insulin independence. However, one of the main factors preventing the widespread application of the treatment is that it has, until now, been funded on a limited research grant basis.

(This) announcement is excellent news for patients with severe hypoglycaemia. The University of Oxford and the ORH NHS Trust have been involved in developing this exciting treatment for the last 20 years and we are delighted to be one of the leading centres in this new UK-wide initiative. This is the first step towards eventual reversal of diabetes in children soon after diagnosis.”

Health Minister Ann Keen said:

“In developing islet transplants for people who suffer from hypoglycaemia, the NHS is at the forefront of worldwide clinical innovation. This programme will ensure that people who have been unable to treat hypoglycaemia with conventional therapies will benefit from significant improvements to their quality of life.”

To date, islet transplants have been offered to twelve patients in England. In the first year, it is expected that around 20 transplants will take place at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, London, Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust, North Bristol NHS Trust and Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s NHS Trust. The service will then expand to meet the predicted annual need of approximately 80 transplants in subsequent years.

Sarah Bone, Chief Executive of the Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation, said: “DRWF has always been intent on funding what we consider to be ‘fast-track’ research - that is research that shows potential to have benefits in the clinical setting within 3-5 years.

The announcement of the decision to fund islet transplant as a clinical treatment will offer light at the end of the tunnel to those with Type 1 diabetes experiencing severe hypo-glycaemic unawareness. It will also highlight the advances in the research arena that continue to take place behind the scenes.

It’s thanks to the continued support and commitment of our donors, that we have been able to fund the underpinning science of islet transplantation at Oxford.”

Islet transplantation is a suitable alternative to whole organ pancreas transplant as it is less invasive and can be considered for patients with cardiac disease who would be unfit for open surgery.

It should be noted that there is a strict selection criteria to undergo islet cell transplantation.

’Take a tour’ of the DRWF islet isolation facility

Contact us at DRWF for more information or for more information on islet cell transplantation selection criteria click here