What are islet cells?

Pancreatic islets of Langerhans

The average person has about a million islets in their pancreas. The pancreas contains the islets of Langerhans, which in turn house the vital beta cells that produce insulin and are destroyed in Type 1 diabetes.

Minute by minute the beta cells work hard to monitor glucose levels in the blood, carefully releasing finely measured amounts of insulin to counterbalance the peaks of glucose in the blood that occur during the day.

With such an abundant supply, we can sustain the loss of quite a considerable amount of beta cells. Problems arise, however, when more than 90 per cent of these cells are damaged. At this stage insufficient insulin is produced to control the swings in blood glucose levels and Type 1 diabetes develops.

Islet cell transplantation is a process where islet cells from donor pancreases are transplanted into patients with diabetes. This process has recently been radically improved by James Shapiro and Jonathan Lakey in Edmonton, Canada, who have injected islet cells into the livers of people with diabetes, in a process known as the ‘Edmonton Protocol’.