Islet cell transplantation is a promising functional cure for type 1 diabetes; however, maintaining long-term islet graft function and insulin independence is difficult to achieve. In this short report we present a patient with situs inversus, who at the time of islet transplantation had a 26-year history of type 1 diabetes, complicated by hypoglycemic unawareness and severe hypoglycemic events. After a single allogeneic islet transplant of a low islet mass, and despite developing de novo anti-insulin and anti-GAD65 autoantibodies, the patient has remarkably maintained insulin independence with tight glycemic control and normal metabolic profiles for 10 years, after receiving prolonged non-T-cell depleting immunosuppression.
Keywords: T-cell depletion; autoimmunity; immunosuppression; insulin independence; islet transplantation.