In May, James Shapiro linkurl:wrote in our pages;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/23394/ about progress using the Edmonton Protocol to transplant islet cells into patients with type 1 diabetes. In this week?s New England Journal of Medicine, he and a number of colleagues around the world linkurl:report the results;http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/13/1318 of a phase 1-2 trial of the protocol in 36 patients. The findings were consistent which previous studies that Shapiro discussed in his May piece: 16 patients (44%) met the primary endpoint of insulin independence with adequate glycemic control one year after their final transplant, five of whom remained insulin-independent at 2 years. In the entire group, 10 had partial function, 10 had complete graft loss, and 21 were able to attain insulin independence with good glycemic control at any point throughout the trial. Of these 21 subjects, 16 required insulin again at 2 years. The results ?confirmed that islet transplantation may successfully restore long-term endogenous...

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