I also wonder if it could be used for Type I diabetics. That’s an autoimmune condition, so the body’s immune system is attacking its own islet cells, but I wonder if it would still attack them if they were located in the liver. If it’s possible to isolate some of these cells from a part of the pancreas while leaving the organ still functional, and transplant them to the liver, it should be possible to test the feasibility of this without destroying the patient’s pancreas (which is important for other things besides producing insulin).
It wouldn’t work for Type II diabetics, whose chief problem is insulin resistance rather than lack of normal insulin production. And of Type II, induced by overeating, is by far the most common type of diabetes in the developed world.
It’s already been done in Canada and a few other countires around the world for type 1 diabetics. he problem is that since type 1 is an autoimmune diease the best they have got was a 5 year sucess rate and after that they go back to being a type 1 again.