The most common complication of type one diabetes mellitus (T1DM), diabetic foot ulcer (DFU), is a subgroup of non-healing wounds. Poor diabetes control has been shown to be the major risk factor for non-healing DFU. Therefore the best way to prevent DFU is to manage T1DM and control high levels of blood glucose. Transplantation of the insulin producing pancreatic islets is one of the main strategies in treatment of T1DM. However, the main concern in this procedure is using high doses of immunosuppressive medications in graft recipients in order to prevent transplant-rejection. In order to make a non-rejectable graft, we have used an enzyme named “Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase”. This enzyme was first found in the placental barrier in pregnant mammals and is responsible for preventing the rejection of fetus by mother’s immune system.
Our group has successfully developed a non-rejectable engraftment containing allogeneic pancreatic islets and IDO expressing cells and I am evaluating the effectiveness of this graft in treatment of autoimmune diabetes on a well-known animal model of T1DM which is non-obese diabetic mouse(NOD).