FIRST-IN-MAN PANCREATIC ISLET TRANSPLANTATION IN THE ANTERIOR CHAMBER OF THE HUMAN EYE

Abstract

Purpose : Diabetes type I results from the destruction of pancreatic islets due to autoimmune attack against the insulin-producing beta cells in the endocrine pancreas. While ongoing clinical trials have focused on islet transplantation into the hepatic portal system with some success, the search for alternative islet transplantation sites remains important. One location of interest is the anterior chamber of the eye. We report the feasibility and proof of concept of transplantation of allogenic pancreatic human islets for the first time into the anterior chamber of a human eye.

Methods : About 40'000 freshly prepared and isolated allogenic human islets (95% purity in 200 microliter) were transplanted into the anterior chamber of a legally blind diabetic eye of a c-peptide negative diabetic patient. Follow up over 3 months regarding clinical examination of the eye as well as fasting blood serum c-peptide and blood sugar levels were regularly determined.

Results : IOP increased up to 50 mm Hg the first night, but normalized over the next weeks. No inflammation or other ophthalmic complications were found otherwise in the injected eye. After mixed meal tolerance test c-peptide levels were measurable in the peripheral blood.

Conclusions : Our results proof that allogenic human pancreatic islet transplantation can be performed without causing permanent damage to the eye and that transplanted islets will survive and be functional after 3 months.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.