Diabetes mellitus is the third most common metabolic disorder worldwide. The annual morbidity and mortality from the secondary complications ofdiabetes in the United States alone is staggering. The maintenance of euglycemia should prevent the development of or halt the progression of the secondary diabetic complications. Exogenous insulin therapy has been successful in producing long-term euglycemia. Pancreatic tissue replacement has shown encouraging results, but is limited to date by the shortage of donor organs, technical complications of the surgical procedures, the immune response of the host and infectious complications of the required immunosuppressive drug therapy. Bioartificial pancreases offer a potential solution by providing immunoprotection to the contained islet tissue. This would allow the use of xenogenic islet tissue without the need for immunosuppression. Previous bioartificial devices have failed due to poor glucose-insulin transfer kinetics and biocompatibility. We have developed a device for the intraportal delivery of insulin which has functioned long-term in this regard, and which may be applicable as an artificial pancreas. Canine pancreatic islets contained within the device will, in a physiologically relevant fashion, modulate glucose metabolism of pancreatectoniized dogs, and protect the contained islets from the host immune response.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:It is estimated that $14 billion a year is spent on the secondary complications of diabetes and 28 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed daily. If this device can function to provide euglycemia, the commercial potential would be enormous. The device would not only improve quality of life, but would also decrease the cost of secondary complications.National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
