Pig cells tested as diabetes treatment

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- A California company is looking at the potential for treating diabetes with pig islet cells.

San Diego-based MicroIslet, Inc. said encapsulated islets from pigs have the potential for solving many of the problems associated with transplantation of insulin-producing islet cells from human donors or cadavers as a long-term diabetes treatment, the company said Tuesday in a release.

MicroIslet said it has demonstrated proof of principal of this idea through multiple animal studies and is seeking approval to begin human clinical trials this year.

"Xenotransplantation (from one species to another) has the potential to solve many of the problems associated with the transplantation of islet cells from one human to another," company president Dr. Jonathan Lakey said at a recent conference.

He said pig islets could one day emerge as a significant treatment for type 1 diabetes.

Islet cell transplantation involves harvesting insulin-producing islet cells from the pancreas of an organ donor and injecting them into the portal vein. Transplanted cells make insulin in response to ingestion of sugars and starches, similarly to how a normal pancreas operates, the company said.