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New clean lab benefits diabetic patients, research by Cindy Abole Public Relations Plans for a new state-of-the-art clean lab for islet cell isolation and transplant services at MUSC are nearly complete. It brings hope for more than 350,000 South Carolinians who live with diabetes, particularly 10 percent of individuals diagnosed with type 1 or juvenile diabetes.  In the Palmetto state, diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death among men and women. Patients with severe insulin-dependent, type 1 diabetes survive through burdensome daily injections to manage this lifelong disorder. But groundbreaking research featuring islet cell  transplants and other cutting-edge therapies have the potential to reduce life-threatening,  secondary complications associated with the disease and thus, improve a patient’s quality-of-life. The idea is the result of bold foresight of GCRC-funded research and a recognition of cross-campus resources led by Pediatrics professor and chairman L. Lyndon Key, M.D. Dr. Lyndon Key, right, joins Division of Transplant Surgery's Dr. Jeffrey Rogers in front of the Research Support Center's new clean lab facility. Rogers is leading MUSC's effort to obtain the lab's FDA approval.  “This facility has the potential to become a real university resource,” said Key. “It brings exciting research potential and clinical care to campus. For patients, it provides some alternatives for those who are unstable in their insulin therapy to seek other treatments that can potentially improve their lifestyle without the burdens associated with diabetes.” The program will be among a dozen or more islet cell transplant centers across the country and a couple located in the Southeast. Although the idea of islet cell transplantation originated more than 20 years ago, it was not until recent breakthroughs sparked an increased interest in the field. In 2001, a New England Journal of Medicine article reported how Canadian researchers made progress in islet cell transplantation and immunosuppressive therapies which resulted in patients who became insulin-free.  Benefits of islet cell transplantation Diabetes is a slow-developing, metabolic disease whose health risks for blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage, stroke and cardiovascular disease increase with age. People with type 1 diabetes are unable to produce enough insulin in their bodies. Insulin, which is produced by the pancreas, is necessary for the body to use sugar. Sugar or glucose is the main source of fuel for cells. Type 1 diabetics develop an unhealthy build-up of glucose in their blood and must rely on insulin to help remove glucose from the blood and into cells.  For type 1 diabetics, insulin-producing cells are destroyed because of disease. Islets, which are not singular cells, are actually clusters of 50 to 1,000 pancreatic cells composed of insulin-producing beta cells and other cell types. An islet cell transplant offers the potential to eliminate insulin injections and manage a person’s blood sugar without major surgery.  Scientists and clinicians today have looked at other alternatives and research advances in this area. Locally, MUSC searched for other alternatives that could be helpful to patients with diabetes, a growing chronic disease in the state. It coincided with expansion plans of the GCRC and creation of the new MUSC Research Support Center. Key, along with research  support leaders Peter Wilson, M.D., GCRC program director and Kathleen Brady, M.D., Ph.D., associate program director, helped initiate collaborative efforts with MUSC’s Health Science Foundation to secure a $1 million anchor grant to begin the facility’s basic construction. Key was also able to raise an additional $300,000-plus to provide equipment and complete the facility.  New clean lab facility The 1,000-square-foot, sterile facility is situated in the newly-renovated second-floor Research Support Center of the Clinical Sciences Building. Opened in 1977, the Research Support Center’s GCRC is one of 85 national centers funded by the NIH to support investigator-initiated clinical research projects. The lab is part of a 8,000 square-foot renovation  and expansion of physical space and services of the Research Support Center.  “It’s essentially a big sterile chamber,” Key said. “This facility will help purify cells and prepare them for patients.” Upon FDA-approval, the facility will operate 24/7 in the continuous growth of cell cultures. It possesses its own High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, which traps the most minute particles from the air, and is equipped with its own independent power supply. “The facility has the ability to be independent of the program entirely,” Key said. “That’s what makes this even more exciting. Although it is primarily developed around islet cell transplantation, it is also a manufacturing facility for ourselves. It can be used for any other type of cell transplantation that also requires strict sterile conditions.” Research on campus One area of ongoing research that has scientific potential to Key, the Research Support Center and the medical community is stem cell research. Under the foundation of the MUSC Children’s Research Institute, many groups have progressed in the understanding of stem cell science from the human body, embryonic stem cells and other cell types.  Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy chairman and researcher Roger Markwald, Ph.D., is among several investigators working on stem cell biology projects. Others, like pediatrics professor Inderjit Singh, Ph.D., director of the Division of Developmental Neurogenetics, collaborate with other scientists in organ protection and diabetes research. “This project is a fine example of how collaborative initiation through the auspices of the Children’s Research Institute can facilitate an outcome when it’s pushed forward through the support of the Department of Pediatrics, the transplant surgery group, the Digestive Disease Center, Department of Radiology, Division of Endocrinology and other multidisciplinary groups,” Key said.     Friday, Feb. 13, 2004 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. 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