Tolerance to Composite Islet-Kidney Transplants in Non-Human Primates

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PROJECT SUMMARY (See instructions): Although many diabetic patients in renal failure, especially children, have potential donors willing to provide both a kidney and islets, the quantity of islets necessary to achieve insulin independence hampers successful islet Tx by partial pancreatectomy from living donors. Project 2 is designed toward developing a tolerance-inducing strategy for curative treatment of end-stage diabetic nephropathy using living donor composite Islet-Kidney (IK) transplantation (Tx). We have previously demonstrated that the strategy of transplanting pre-vascularized islets as part of IKs in large animal models is successful, using far fewer islets than are required for Tx of free, non-vascularized islets. Both renal and islet function were restored by IK Tx across fully allogeneic barriers in nephrectomized diabetic baboons using a clinically relevant immunosuppression protocol. More recently, our preliminary data have shown the successful induction of tolerance of IKs in rhesus monkeys treated with hematopoietic cell Tx in a