Islets From Pig Pancreases Reverses Diabetes In Monkeys

• In what could be a significant step towards helping insulin dependant diabetes patients, transplanting cell clusters - known as islets from pancreas,of pigs to monkeys is found to reverse diabetes ,in monkeys.The scientists from the University of Minnesota who conducted the study hopes to start trials in humans by 2009.
  This means that people receiving the transplantation needn’t continue insulin injections. In a previous research study, UK teams have transplanted human pancrea , with success. However, donor pancreas are in short supply and hence the interest in the pig as a solution .
  The team worked to perfect a combination of drugs, to overcome rejection of the pig cells, which has been a problem in the past. With the final drugs regime, all five monkey transplant recipients survived and their diabetes was reversed.