Live Donors May Be Best Islet Cell Sources

South Korean scientists suggest that pancreatic islet cells from living donors might resolve the shortage of cells available for transplantation.

In samples taken from living donors, 94 percent of the cells were viable for transplant, compared with only 42 percent of cells taken from deceased donors, said study leader Kwang-Won Kim of Sungkyunkwan University and the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul.

Islet cell transplantation is the only known cure for insulin-dependent diabetes, but there are simply not enough deceased donors available to meet the demand for islet cells, said Kim. In fact, we sometimes require islet cells from two deceased donors to gather enough cells to treat one patient.

Living donors would be able to provide many more healthy cells, since islet cells begin to deteriorate immediately after brain death. But the researchers said obtaining islet cells from living donors is not a risk-free procedure since donors might develop diabetes themselves.

Obviously, more research is needed to determine the risk to donors and ensure their safety, but if a low-risk donation strategy could be established, living donors could dramatically improve the supply of islet cells for transplant, said Kim.

The study appears in the journal Clinical Transplantation.