CLEVELAND, Ohio — Patients with Type 1 diabetes have lost the specialized pancreatic cells that produce insulin, putting them at risk for dangerous seizures or loss of consciousness due to severe low blood sugar.
But what if their destroyed insulin-producing cells could be replaced by healthy ones?
That’s the idea behind a new treatment, offered at University Hospitals, that infuses insulin-producing islet cells from donated organs into Type 1 diabetic patients with persistent low blood sugar.
In some patients, the infused cells produce enough insulin that insulin injections are no longer needed, said Dr. Betul Hatipoglu, chief of endocrinology, and medical director of the Diabetes & Metabolic Care Center at UH.
UH is one of the few sites in Ohio offering Lantidra, the most effective and longest lasting treatment that’s been FDA-approved for the more than 2 million Americans with Type 1 diabetes, Hatipoglu said.
The treatment is not for those with Type 2 diabetes, which happens when the body can make its own insulin but allows it to build up in the blood.
In Lantidra clinical trials, about 70% of participants no longer needed insulin after one year. After five years, 34% of patients were still insulin independent.
“For some patients, it will be a cure for Type 1 diabetes,” Hatipoglu said.
Hatipoglu was among the original researchers who worked on islet cell therapy during her tenure as medical director of the Pancreas and Islet Cell Transplant Program at University of Illinois Health at Chicago. Her involvement with the project continued after she joined UH.
She saw a tremendous effect in patients who participated in the Chicago trials.
“They don’t have to think about low sugars anymore,” she said. “This big burden is lifted.”
‘Give it to everyone who qualifies’
Some people with Type 1 diabetes are unable to control their blood sugars by using insulin, and suffer from wide fluctuations from blood glucose that’s too high or too low, or hypoglycemia.
In Lantidra islet therapy, islet cells are extracted from a pancreas from a deceased donor, and turned into a liquid transfusion. The cells are injected into a particular vein that flows directly to the liver, where they implant and start producing insulin.
“The main goal with this treatment is to give a safe life to the patient without the risk of hypoglycemia-induced, life-threatening episodes,” Hatipoglu said.
Patients sometimes need three infusions before they can stop taking insulin, and those receiving the donated cells must take immunosuppressive drugs to avoid having their bodies reject the cells.
Introducing islet cells into the liver is less challenging than reintroducing them to the pancreas, or performing a pancreas transplant, Hatipoglu said.
“Sometimes the pancreas is so small in these patients, from years of being attacked, it’s almost impossible to infuse (islet cells) back to the organ itself,” she said.
Because Type 1 diabetics have increased risk of a cardiovascular event during transplantation, whole organ transplantation is a poor option for some, she said.
Lantidra was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2023, but is only now becoming more widely available. UH began offering the treatment in late 2025.
UH is conducting screenings to find patients who are good candidates for the treatment. Candidates must have experienced dangerous episodes of low blood sugar at least once in the last year, and be a match with a donated pancreas.
Type 1 diabetics who are doing well on insulin are not candidates for this treatment.
To schedule a consult with a diabetes and metabolic care specialist to learn more, call 440-373-2823.
Hatipoglu hopes the islet transfusion procedure can transform the lives of numerous Type 1 diabetes patients.
“You want to give it to everyone who qualifies,” she said.
