This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 28, 2011 - The year 1986 was a good one for Dr. Camillo Ricordi. For one thing, he got married. For another, he invented an effective treatment for the most severe cases of diabetes.
"It was my reward," he jokes of the wedding to then-St. Louisan Valerie Grace Ricordi.
Now, 25 years later, Ricordi, who began his research at Washington University, will return to St. Louis as one of the most renowned researchers combating the illness. He will speak at a fund-raising event sponsored by Missouri Cures, an organization that promotes stem cell research. Dena Ladd, executive director of the local group, said the event this week at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton provides an opportunity to interact with a giant in the field.
"I thought this is really big to have someone of his stature come to St. Louis and speak about his research," said Ladd, who hopes the event will attract people from around the state. "Diabetes affects so many families and so many people so to find a cure for it would be huge."
Now the scientific director and chief academic officer at the University of Miami's Diabetes Research Institute, Ricordi is best known for his development of the Ricordi chamber. It is part of a system he helped create that isolates insulin-producing cells in the pancreases of deceased donors for transplant into a diabetic host, an advance that allows doctors to treat the ailment more effectively.
Ricordi said the method is only used in the most serious cases. He estimates fewer than a tenth of patients qualify.
"This is because this procedure, like any other organ transplant, requires anti-rejection drugs," he said. "That can introduce side effects from the use of immunosuppression. You have to weigh carefully the risks and benefits."
Ricordi's mission comes from a very personal passion. His young cousin was diagnosed with the illness while he was at the University of Milan in his native Italy, a nation whose president would later knight him for his work. Since then, however, his career has taken on a broader meaning.
"You meet so many people who it has affected their life or the lives of their relatives, children and friends, that it is no longer just a family mission," he said.
Ricordi said his remarks in St. Louis will likely focus on the evolving treatments for diabetes and the promise of regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies in working for a cure to the illness.
The topic comes at a time when progress on the disease is moving forward on a number of fronts, some of them related to stem cells. Ricordi said part of that research is dealing with reducing the need for immunosuppressive therapies.
"Once this can be achieved, everybody will want the transplant," he said. "There will be no more side effects."
Meanwhile, other studies are looking at converting embryonic stem cells into insulin producers. There are even methods under examination that effectively "personalize" stem cell therapies.
"We have tried to convert and go away from embryonic stem cells. A major focus is using the patient's own stem cells from the pancreas and reprogram those cells to become insulin-producing," he said.
This reduces the risk of rejection and makes the process easier.
Whatever therapies eventually prove effective, Ricordi said the need is great, noting that as many as 300 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes. It's an illness that costs $200 billion annually in the United States, a figure that's expected to reach half a trillion within the next decade.
"Centers worldwide are collaborating towards a cure," Ricordi said. They use "technologies to connect centers and project teams so that it's as if they are working in the same space even if they are across the ocean. It's a really exciting time because they are linking people from Asia, Europe, South America."
Ricordi said it is important to be careful when using the word cure, but he believes it is only a matter of time before the worldwide collaborations bear fruit.
"Whether this will happen in less than five years or more than 10 years is difficult to predict, but we will not stop until we get to a cure," he said.
Ricordi will speak at the Ritz-Carlton Thursday evening. For more information, contact 1-800-829-4133.
David Baugher is a freelance writer in St. Louis.