ABSTRACT
Regenerative medicine involves varying degrees of interaction among many research domains. Regenerative medical therapies based on research into organogenesis and the regeneration of injured or dysfunctional tissue using cell therapy are being developed rapidly. For the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM), pancreatic transplantation and islet (pancreatic endocrine) cell transplantation are considered to be one form of regenerative medicine to overcome pancreatic tissue dysfunction. Recently, the effective islet cell transplantation Edmonton protocol has been established, ushering in a new era in regenerative therapy for DM. However, unresolved problems remain, including a severe donor shortage and unexpected side effects with the longterm use of some immunosuppressive agents. With continuing advances and the clinical application of fundamental therapy for DM, a pancreatic islet cell transplantation or bioartificial pancreatic transplantation system, consisting of islet (pancreatic endocrine) cell purification, pancreatic cell proliferation techniques, immunoisolative membrane technology, and an appropriate transplantation procedure, will be effective. This paper focuses on applied research on human and/or porcine pancreatic cell purification, embryonic stem cell differentiation, and pancreatic stem cell differentiation into functional insulin-producing cells.
