High-dose total body irradiation and bone marrow cells may improve efficiency of bone marrow transplantation therapy in treating type 1 diabetes.

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has been used to treat autoimmune diseases for many years. Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), also called type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease resulting from a selective destruction of pancreatic islet beta cells. Recently, T1D has been a common significant cause of morbidity and mortality. However, whether BMT can be used to treat T1DM is still controversial. During BMT procedure, recipients underwent total body irradiation (TBI) and subsequent bone marrow cells (BMCs) infusion, in which TBI kills off the most T lymphocytes and BMCs stimulates hematopoiesis and immune reconstitution. We suggest that high-dose TBI and BMCs may improve efficiency of BMT therapy in T1DM treatment.