Table 1.

Considerations in islet transplantation.

	Allotransplantation	Autotransplantation	Stem cell transplantation
Patient Population	Patients with type 1 diabetes and severe hypoglycemia, glycemic variability or microvascular complications	Patients with chronic pancreatitis undergoing pancreatectomy	Investigational; type 1 diabetes with potential application to other forms of diabetes
Source of Islet Material	Cadaveric islets	Autologous transplant	Human pluripotent stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells or embryonic stem cells)
Limitations	- Immunosuppression required - Limited supply of donors	- Limited cell mass, from one’s own diseased pancreas	-Remains investigational - Need to scale up to sufficient functional mass to reverse diabetes in humans