Islet Transplantation & β-Cell Replacement Therapies for Diabetes
1Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33136, USA
2Department of Surgery, University Hospitals of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland
3Department of Clinical Immunology, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
4Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
Islet Transplantation & β-Cell Replacement Therapies for Diabetes
Description
Restoration of physiologic metabolic control is the ultimate therapeutic goal for patients with diabetes, which is difficult to achieve by means of medical therapy. Transplantation of islet of Langerhans represents a viable therapeutic option for patients with insulin-dependent diabetes. It is currently offered to patients with a brittle form of diabetes and hypoglycemia unawareness. Current limitations of islet transplantation include scarcity of deceased donor pancreata, partially effective islet isolation and purification protocols, need for life-long systemic immunosuppression, inadequate implantation sites, lack of predictive tests, and noninvasive graft monitoring protocols, amongst others. Great progress has been recorded in different research areas aimed at overcoming current limitations of islet cell transplantation in the fields of stem cells, xenotransplantation, in the definition of novel immunosuppressive regimens, immune tolerance and immunoisolation protocols, alternative sites for islet implantation, immune monitoring, and noninvasive imaging techniques.
We invite investigators to contribute original research articles as well as review articles on islet cell transplantation (e.g., clinical, preclinical, translational, and basic research) that will stimulate the continuing efforts toward successful beta-cell replacement therapies for diabetes mellitus. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Clinical islet transplantation (evaluation and measuring outcomes, new agents, regulatory aspects, and effects of the transplant on diabetes complications)
- Cell processing (pancreas utilization, organ preservation, and predictive tests of islet potency)
- Islet transplant immunobiology (inflammation, autoimmunity, and rejection)
- Immune modulation and tolerance induction
- Impact of immunosuppressive drugs on beta cells
- Monitoring (immune, metabolic, and noninvasive imaging)
- Alternative sources of transplantable islet cells (stem cells and xenotransplantation)
- Tissue engineering and alternative implantation sites for islet cells (devices, encapsulation, etc.)
Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jtran/guidelines.html. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: