Great response Quest13, and thanks for starting this interesting thread Barsax. I would just add that:

1) Reliance on human islet donor cells is not a feasible approach in the long-term. Limited supply and unknown how long each transplant will last. Hopefully stem-cell derived insulin producing beta cells or islets will fulfill this need. This would be a much more sustainable approach. But development of these are still in very early stages. The need for immunosuppressives to allow for transplant survival is also not optimal.

2) T2D in its late stages results in decrease islet/beta cell mass and a dependence on insulin. So this transplant approach could be amendable to treating late stage T2D too. However, the hope is that detection of early insulin resistance, combined with lifestyle and/or therapeutic interventions (GLP-1R agonists, SGLT2 inhibitors, DPP4 inhibitors, metformin, etc) can delay or prevent the progression to insulin-dependent T2D.

BDAZ