The International Diabetes Federation estimates 382 million people are
currently living with diabetes mellitus worldwide; and with increasing rates of obesity
in an aging population this number is predicted to increase to 592 million by 2035. The
inability to ameliorate the causes of diabetes has motivated researchers to develop
novel approaches aimed at providing curative therapies to replace current symptomatic
management using exogenous insulin. Accordingly, postnatal or adult stem cell
transplantation has recently emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy following
reports detailing the stimulation of islet regeneration in preclinical and early clinical
studies. Postnatal bone marrow (BM) and umbilical cord blood (UCB) sources contain
progenitor cells of hematopoietic, endothelial, and mesenchymal lineages; and each
have demonstrated islet regenerative functions in animal models of diabetes. In the
context of this chapter, we summarize accumulating evidence from preclinical and
clinical studies describing transplantation of these specific postnatal lineages to
stimulate the regeneration of endogenous insulin secreting β-cells, and how these stem
cells may be used to provide paracrine support alongside the transplantation of
allogeneic islets.
Keywords: Allogeneic transplantation, Autologous transplantation, β-cells, Bone
marrow, Diabetes mellitus, Endothelial progenitor cells, Hematopoietic
progenitor cells, Hypoxia, Insulin, Islet angiogenesis, Islet neogenesis
