
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 25, 1995                   TAG: 9506260112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

INSULIN TRANSPLANTS SUCCEED

Insulin-making cells have been transplanted successfully for the first time into patients with the most common form of diabetes - Type II or adult onset - at the University of Miami School of Medicine.

``Our results of complete insulin independence in two patients are extremely encouraging,'' said Dr. Camillo Ricordi, co-director of UM's Diabetes Research Institute. He said the findings are preliminary.

Ricordi announced the results at the 5th International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association Congress, meeting in Miami Beach.

Without insulin, people with diabetes cannot properly metabolize glucose. Some can control their diabetes with diet, but many must take insulin daily.

Pancreatic islet cell transplants that restore natural insulin production in the body have been used with some success in Type I - juvenile onset diabetes - patients since 1989. Ricordi reported at the conference that some of his Type I patients have remained insulin-independent for five years.

Islet cells more effectively control blood glucose levels than conventional insulin treatments, according to results of the study, released Wednesday.

``The key issue now is to be able to do islet transplantation early in the course of the disease and to be able to do it without [the use of anti-rejection drugs] that suppress the immune system,'' Ricordi said.

Norma Kenyon, a research assistant professor working with Ricordi, said giving bone marrow infusions from the donor of the islet cells appears to trick the body into accepting them without need for anti-rejection drugs. Scientists don't know why.

by CNB