Welcome

Thank you for visiting the Clinical Islet Transplant Program website:

Recent News

The landmark NIH Registration Trial of Clinical Islet Transplantation has just been published. This shows that islet transplantation provides robust protection from severe hypoglycemia and excellent glycemic control over 2 years.

We have published outcomes from our program over the last 20 years - showing long term protection from hypoglycemia, lower A1c and insulin requirements in those with sustained graft function

A study of quality of life after islet transplantation from the patient's point of view has been published which gives a different perspective than we usually hear.

We've recently developed a tool (the BETA-2 score) which allows us to calculate a score to measure the function of an islet transplant from a single fasting blood test. This will allow us to monitor function more easily and more frequently over time. There is even an online tool to calculate the score.

The HYPO score is a tool used to assess the frequency and severity of hypoglycaemia. We've got a tool to help automate its calculation.

Clinical Trials 

   If you wish to register your interest to volunteer for one of our current or future research studies, please click here. 

  If you want to hear about other research studies for diabetes, you can register at www.connect1d.ca, or the Alberta Diabetes Institute

Current Trials

    New Onset Type 1 Diabetes - recruiting NOW

    We are recruiting people who have developed Type 1 Diabetes in the last 6 months to receive treatments which aim to reset the immune system and mobilize stem cells - hoping that will reverse or prevent further immune attack of pancreatic beta cells. Specific information for this trial can be found here.

   Viacyte's VC-01 & VC-02 Beta-Cell Replacement...

    Viacyte have developed a line of pancreatic endoderm cells (PEC-01). We are looking for volunteers with Type 1 Diabetes to help us move forward in our efforts to bring "stem cell therapy" to the clinic. The VC-01 Trial is currently underway but not recruiting patients. The VC-02 Trial, however, is underway and actively recruiting. Specific information for the VC-02 trial can be found here.

    Polyclonal Regulatory T cell (PolyTreg) Immunotherapy in Islet Transplantation - recruiting NOW

     Polyclonal Regulatory T cells (PolyTregs) are a sub-set of specialized regulatory cells that have demonstrated immune protection of transplant grafts in pre-clinical models, and may hold great promise in clinical islet transplantation. PolyTRegs are harvested and expanded from a recipient's whole blood prior to islet transplantation and infused several weeks after the islet transplant procedure. The anticipation is that the infused PolyTregs will protect the islet graft from the recipient's immune response and the patient will require less immune suppression drugs over the lifetime of the graft. For more information about the PolyTreg trial, please contact one of our study coordinators: parastoo@islet.ca or purwana@ualberta.ca.  

AT-1501 Immunomodulation in Islet Transplant

      In this research, we are studying an investigational drug called AT-1501.  AT-1501 is a monoclonal antibody. Monoclonal antibodies are proteins that are made in a laboratory and are similar in structure to antibodies that your body produces when you are exposed to foreign substances like bacteria or viruses. Monoclonal antibodies are designed to treat or prevent disease by modifying (changing) the way in which your immune system works.   Under normal circumstances, your immune system will try to attack any substance that it sees as foreign.  This is an appropriate response when your body is exposed to a harmful foreign substance like a virus.  The investigational drug, AT-1501 is thought to work by dampening down your immune system so that it will be less likely to attack your transplant.  For more information about the Anelixis trial, please contact one of our study coordinators: parastoo@islet.ca or purwana@ualberta.ca.  

"Regular" Clinical Islet Transplants

Too much information to read? Watch some video clips which describe islet transplantation!

A summary of progress in the Islet Transplant Program has been published in the Canadian Journal of Diabetes.

Shortage of Applicants

Currently our wait list is very short, partly because we have successfully transplanted many people who formerly had Type 1 diabetes. In addition many people have been reluctant to apply, often because they think that islet transplant is for "other people". Our islet transplant recipients are normal people, just like you. More info...

We are actively processing applications...

... so if you think that an islet transplant might be right for you, please apply

Information for Canadian Residents

Detailed patient information is provided on this site. Please see the links on the left hand side.

We have an information pack which you may like to download and print

If you are not sure if you might be a candidate you may want to start here

The following individuals are closely involved with the Clinical Islet Transplant Program in Edmonton:

    Dr. James Shapiro (Director / Transplant Surgeon)

    Dr. Peter Senior (Medical Director/Endocrinologist)  

    Dr Anna Lam (Endocrinologist)

    Dr. David Bigam (Transplant Surgeon)

    Dr. Khaled Dajani (Transplant Surgeon)

    Dr. Blaire Anderson (Transplant Surgeon)

And many others: interventional radiology doctors and staff, nurse coordinators, islet isolation staff, dietitian, patient and family support coordinator, metabolic coordinator, research staff, and clerical staff.

Information for International Residents

US and international inquiries regarding islet transplant programs outside of Canada should be directed to:

Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium

or

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International

For more information contact the Clinical Islet Transplant Program in Edmonton:

Clinical Islet Transplant Program

2-132 Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Research Innovation

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1

780-407-1501(phone)

780-407-3850(fax)

Email: isletprogram@islet.ca

 Copyright 2010 Clinical Islet Transplant Program