Stephanie Amiel, RD Lawrence Professor of Diabetic Medicine at King’s College London and Consultant at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘This news is extremely exciting and welcomed by King’s. The Department of Health has been extremely foresighted. Allowing King’s and the other centres to continue to offer this life-changing treatment will have enormous benefit for those patients who can really benefit from islet transplantation in its present form. It will also allow the UK to develop the technique to be more suitable for more people with Type 1 diabetes and may, in time, lead to a “cure”.

There are around 250,000 people with Type 1 diabetes in the UK. They live with the constant need to be aware of their blood glucose levels and the threat of long-term complications such as blindness, renal failure, amputation and cardiovascular disease. Hypoglycaemia as a complication of their treatment is also an ever-present threat.

Professor Amiel explains: ‘People with Type 1 diabetes often live extremely regimented lives, requiring self blood testing four or more times per day, injecting insulin five times per day and constantly being aware of the food they eat, level of exercise and levels of alcohol consumption. ‘This funding is crucial to the development of research to perfect the islet isolation procedure and the drugs we use to prevent rejection of the islets and recurrence of the diabetes. Eventually, this could mean the end of insulin dependence for all Type 1 diabetes sufferers.’

First successful transplantation

King’s College Hospital performed the UK’s first clinically successful islet transplantation in a Type 1 diabetes patient in 2004. Currently, the procedure benefits people with diabetes who are at risk of hypoglycaemia, a potentially coma-inducing condition. It provides protection from such events and can sometimes allow patients to be free of insulin dependence. In time, it has the potential to help many more people with Type 1 diabetes.

The Department of Health will invest up to £2.34 million in islet transplant services in the first year, increasing to a maximum of £7.32 million to meet the predicted annual need in the longer term. From the 1 April 2008, the Department of Health will fund two islet isolation laboratories, one in London jointly at King’s College Hospital and The Royal Free, and one in Oxford. They will be available 24 hours a day to receive donor pancreases and prepare islet cells for transplantation. Working with the six transplant centres throughout the country – one of which will be based at King’s – the Department of Health announcement means islet transplantation will now be available on the NHS to patients in England and Wales.

The King’s team, a collaboration between the Department of Diabetes at the College and the Liver Unit’s transplantation team at the Hospital, has to date transplanted five Type 1 diabetes patients with pancreatic islet cells – more than any other centre in the UK. Professor Amiel said: ‘King’s multi-disciplinary approach to islet cell treatment makes us a centre of excellence in this arena. We have experts in diabetes, transplantation, cell isolation and radiology all working together.’

Islets are clumps of cells found in the pancreas which produce insulin. These cells are obtained from donor pancreases and are transplanted by injection into the recipient’s liver. Once in the liver, the cells develop their own blood supply and begin producing insulin. This minimally invasive procedure takes about 45 minutes.

Professor Nigel Heaton, Consultant Liver Surgeon, said: ‘King's is the first centre in the UK to achieve insulin independence in Type 1 patients. The research approach at King's is totally multidisciplinary, with experts across specialities in diabetes, liver transplantation, cell isolation and radiology all working together. The result of this funding will have far reaching implications, not only for Type 1 diabetes patients, but also in the wider area of cell research.’

Notes to editors

King’s College London
King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2007) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King’s has 19,700 students from more than 140 countries, and 5,400 employees. King’s has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an annual income of approximately £400 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.

King’s has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres - more than any other university.

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching hospitals, with over 5,000 staff providing around 700,000 patient contacts a year. King’s has a unique profile, with a full range of local hospital services for people in the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark as well as specialist services to patients from further afield. The Trust is recognized internationally for its work in liver disease and transplantation, neurosciences, cardiac and haemato-oncology. King’s also plays a key role in the training and education of medical, nursing and dental students with its academic partner, King’s College London.

Source: By King's College London