ABSTRACT
Department of Surgery, Division of Transplantation, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
INTRODUCTION
An effective and safe immunosuppression protocol for successful islet transplantation will prevent a variety of cytodestructive auto-and alloimmune host responses without inhibiting the secretion or peripheral action of insulin and, of course, without imparting detrimental effects on recipient well-being. Perfection in this realm does not exist. Nevertheless, important strides have been made over the past several years that have resulted in meaningful breakthroughs, positioning the field of islet transplantation into pivotal licensing studies to establish it as a truly therapeutic treatment option for treatment of diabetes in selected patients. This chapter reviews the development of the current state-of-the-art immunosuppressive approach to islet allotransplantation.
