Contribution of a Single Islet Transplant Program to Basic Researchers in North America, Europe, and Asia through Distributing Human Islets

There has been a steady expansion in islet isolation and transplantation activity worldwide. In addition to preparing human islets for transplantation, we have been providing human islets to basic researchers. The aim of this study was to review the activity of distribution of human islets to basic researchers in North America, Europe, and Asia, and to investigate if there are any differences in utilization rate of islets among three continents. We reviewed our islet isolation batch files, donor records, and documents related to shipping from 2007 to 2023. We have distributed islets to a total of 49 researchers (11 at the University of Alberta campus, 21 in North America, 7 in Europe, 10 in Asia). The yearly average [±SD] of islets distributed was 6,607,443 [±1,782,547] islet equivalents obtained from 28 [±5] pancreases, resulting in 230 [±88] shipments. Standard delivery to Europe or Asia takes at least 2 days whereas researchers in North America receive islets the next day. On top of this fact, we found that delayed delivery occurred more often in Asia (31.9%, 201/631 shipments) and Europe (30.8%, 134/435) than in North America (6.8%, 114/1682). Interestingly, the utilization rate of islets within delayed deliveries was highest in Asia (91.5%, 184/201) followed by Europe (83.6%, 112/134) and North America (77.2%, 88/114). There were disparities in the frequency of delayed deliveries and in the utilization rate among three continents. Our program with a 17-year track record has been actively distributing human islets to researchers in three continents.