Breakthrough in Shanghai: Stem Cell–Derived Islet Transplantation Achieves Diabetes Cure

Breakthrough in Shanghai: Stem Cell–Derived Islet Transplantation Achieves Diabetes Cure
Stem hospital | May 9, 2024

Doctors at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital have reported the world’s first successful case of curing diabetes through the transplantation of stem cell–derived pancreatic islet cells.

The patient, a 59-year-old man with a 25-year history of Type 2 diabetes, has been completely insulin-independent for 33 months, the hospital announced on May 7.

Details of the achievement—culminating from over a decade of dedicated research—were published on April 30 in Cell Discovery. According to the hospital, this represents the first documented case worldwide in which severely impaired islet function was restored through autologous regenerative islet transplantation using stem cell–derived tissue. Pancreatic islet cells play a central role in insulin production.

Diabetes is a major global health challenge. Prolonged poor glycemic control can lead to severe complications such as blindness, renal failure, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, limb amputation, hypoglycemic coma, and ketoacidosis. China alone has the largest diabetic population worldwide, with about 140 million patients, including approximately 40 million reliant on lifelong insulin therapy, according to the International Diabetes Federation.

Traditionally, treatment options for severe diabetes have included minimally invasive islet transplantation using donor tissue. However, donor scarcity and the technical difficulty of islet isolation have limited its clinical application. Consequently, the ability to regenerate human islet tissue in vitro at scale has become a central question in regenerative medicine.

Professor Yin Hao, Director of the Organ Transplant Center at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital and lead investigator of the study, explained that the team reprogrammed the patient’s own peripheral blood mononuclear cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These were then differentiated into functional “seed cells” to reconstruct pancreatic islet tissue in a controlled laboratory environment.

“Our technology has reached a level of maturity that pushes the frontier of regenerative medicine for diabetes treatment,” Yin said.

The patient, who had previously undergone a kidney transplant in 2017 and exhibited near-complete islet failure requiring multiple daily insulin injections, received the stem cell–derived islet transplantation in July 2021. Within 11 weeks, he was completely off external insulin. Oral hypoglycemic drugs were gradually reduced and fully discontinued one year later.

Follow-up assessments confirmed the sustained recovery of pancreatic islet function, with renal function remaining stable. According to Yin, these results demonstrate that stem cell–derived regenerative islet transplantation has the potential not only to restore insulin independence but also to prevent the progression of diabetes-related complications.