LAUSR

DOI:10.1097/MOT.0000000000000458 This edition of Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation briefly highlights a journey away from organs and toward cell-based therapy, namely the transplantation of the pancreatic islet. Three expert reviews bring the readership up-to-date on both the past practices and results of islet cell transplants as well as on how the field has evolved to address both the needs of the patient with endocrine failure of the pancreas (the traditional population considered for whole organ pancreas transplantation) as well as the preservation of endocrine function when the exocrine pancreas has failed (the chronic pancreatitis patient population). We have drawn on leaders in the field, from prominent islet-centric institutions, to review the state of knowledge and to point us toward the possible (probable?) future for this technology. To address the topic of allogeneic islet cell transplantation, we have turned to Baylor Scott and White Health’s Research Institute and Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, USA as well as to Baylor University’s Institute for Biomedical Studies in Waco, Texas, USA. Naziruddin (pp. 000–000), the team lead and senior scientist, has decades of experience with islet isolations and the clinical transplantation of human islets. His team has pioneered and continues to expand the frontiers of inflammatory blockade in the recipient of islets during the peritransplant period, with the goal of enhancing functional transplanted islet mass and prolonging both islet function and the excellent glycemic control that can come from the restoration of endogenous insulin production. The Baylor group’s contribution to islet science has focused more on autologous transplants, but their experience with allogeneic transplants is also considerable. What they have taught us about improving engraftment outcomes applies across the whole spectrum of islet transplantation, quite likely as we look to cross-species transplants as well. For a review of autologous islet cell transplantation, performed in conjunction with total pancreatectomy [total pancreatectomy autologous islet cell transplantation (TPIAT)], we turn to Virginia Commonwealth University, which is emerging as a major center of this therapy. Kanak (pp. 000–000) and his team, underscore the growth of TPIAT in the United