Kyoto Hospital Succeeds in iPS Sheet Transplant to Diabetic

Kyoto, April 15 (Jiji Press)--Kyoto University Hospital has succeeded in transplanting pancreatic cell sheets made from induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells into a diabetic patient, achieving the first clinical application of such sheets in Japan.

Announcing the results Monday, the hospital said that the patient in her 40s has already been discharged with a favorable prognosis.

It was the first transplant surgery in the hospital's clinical trial for treating Type 1 diabetes through the transplantation of pancreatic cell sheets made from iPS cells.

The patient was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2001 and underwent the surgery in February this year. The transplanted sheets secrete insulin, a hormone that controls the amount of sugar in the blood.

The hospital observed her for one month after the surgery and confirmed that there was no safety problem.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]