Posted by Al Gordon on October 29, 1998 at 15:37:39:
In Reply to: Re: Work of Dr. Kent Cochrum and his dog Brownie posted by Ellen on October 29, 1998 at 13:18:08:
Ellen,
Even if diabetes is induced chemically or surgically, the dog will still mount a ferocious immune attack against naked pig islets, as it would to any foreign material. The immune component that may be missing is diabetic autoimmunity, the slower attack in which one's own immune system mistakenly identifies one's own islets as foreign, and kills them. It is likely that, if encapsulation protects the islets against a normal immune attack, it will also protect against an autoimmune attack.
In the case of Dr. Anthony Sun at University of Toronto, he transplanted encapsulated pig islets into monekys that became spontaneously diabetic, just like humans. They exhibited all the same symptoms, including weight loss, frequent urination, fatigue, and complete dependence on injected insulin to survive. In other words, it looked just like human autoimmune diabetes in a primate cousin. Following transplant, the islets survived and secreted insulin for a long time, indicating that the protection worked against both normal and auto immunity.
You can read about Dr. Sun's work in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Normalization of Diabetes in Spontaneously Diabetic Cynomologus Monkeys by Xenografts of Microencapsulated Porcine Islets without Immunosuppression .
Al