A 42-year-old man from Sweden was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at just 5 years old, causing his body to not produce enough insulin to control blood sugar. Today, the unidentified man no longer needs daily insulin shots and can finally enjoy sugar without stress. The man underwent an islet cell transplant, which involves transplanting islet cells into the liver to help the pancreas produce insulin on its own. Islet cells are cells in the pancreas that produce hormones to help regulate blood sugar levels. This was done with a series of injections into the man’s forearm muscle. Over the next 3 months, his body responded to the transplanted cells and began making insulin in response to glucose spikes, which usually happen after meals. While islet cell transplants have been performed in a handful of patients, the man was the first to have his islet cells genetically engineered so his body wouldn’t reject them. This prevented him from having to take immunosuppressant drugs, which weaken the body’s defense system and leave it vulnerable to dangerous infections. About 1.6 million Americans are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, much less than Type 2 diabetes, which affects 32 million Americans. The unidentified man got his cells from a living donor, but most people wait on the transplant list for varying lengths of time. The islet cell transplants are estimated to cost around $100,000.
