Recruitment underway for pioneering type 1 trial of islet transplants without anti-rejection medication

Researchers at University of Oxford are recruiting volunteers with type 1 diabetes for this groundbreaking study.

Researchers at the University of Oxford are recruiting for the second Vertex Clinical Trial of transplantation of stem cell-derived pancreatic islets – the VX264 Trial.

This latest trial is for people with type 1 diabetes over the age of 18 and with good awareness of hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose). It involves transplanting stem cell-derived islets in immune-protective capsules under the abdominal wall. People in this trial will not need to take immunosuppression (anti-rejection medication).

Professor Paul Johnson Director of the Oxford Islet Isolation and Islet Transplant Programmes and Professor of Paediatric Surgery at the University of Oxford said: “Islet transplantation has been increasingly successful over the last couple of decades in a selected group of patients. However, the requirement for life-long immunosuppression has limited its application to a wider group of people. If this immunosuppression-free trial is successful, it could be a game-changer for the management of type 1 diabetes, ultimately paving the way for our ultimate goal which is to be able to reverse type 1 diabetes in children soon after diagnosis.”

Oxford is one of only five centres in Europe to have been selected to be conducting this trial.