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Lawrence Hunsicker, MD

Contact Information

Office: T304 GH
Phone: 319-356-4763
Faculty Profile  

Brief description of current research:

Dr. Hunsicker's research and clinical interests have been divided into two main areas: clinical trials in progressive kidney disease -- diabetic nephropathy in particular; and transplantation -- in particular of kidneys, pancreases, and islets. Dr. Hunsicker was the co-founder of the Collaborative Study Group, the consortium that performed the captopril and IDNT trials that showed, for the first time, that blockade of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system slowed the progression of, respectively, Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic kidney disease. He served as the head of the Data Management Center (DMC) for the IDNT. In the area of transplantation, Dr. Hunsicker showed that "failure of a pancreas transplant" as evidenced by a need to resume insulin treatment was as often due to development of Type 2 diabetes -- probably related to the immunosuppressive treatment -- as to actual failure of the pancreas transplant. Most recently Dr. Hunsicker has been the Co-PI and senior physician in the DMC for the Clinical Islet Transplantation consortium that recently published the major results paper and islet manufacturing paper for CIT-07 trial, a highly successful pivotal trial of islet transplantation for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes associated with refractory episodes of serious hypoglycemia. He is the senior Clinical Trial Monitor and has been deeply involved with the management and analysis of data from the CIT trials and with writing of the FDA reports and publications from that trial.

3 most influential diabetes/obesity/metabolism publications:

  •  Lewis EJ, Hunsicker LG, Bain RP, Rohde RD for The Collaborative Study Group. The effect of angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibition on diabetic nephropathy. N Engl J Med. 1993 Nov 11;329(20):1456-62. PMID: 8413456
  •  Lewis EJ, Hunsicker LG, Clarke WR, Berl T, Pohl MA, Lewis JB, Ritz E, Atkins RC, Rohde R, Raz I and the Collaborative Study Group. Renoprotective effect of the angiotensin-receptor antagonist irbesartan in patients with nephropathy due to type 2 diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2001 Sep 20;345(12):851-60. PMID: 11565517
  •  Smith JL, Hunsicker LG, Yuh WT, Wright FH Jr, Van Voorhis L, Corry RJ. Appearance of type II diabetes mellitus in type I diabetic recipients of pancreas allografts. Transplantation. 1989 Feb;47(2):304-11. PMID: 2465591
  •  Hering BJ, Clarke WR, Bridges ND, Eggerman TL, Alejandro R, Bellin MD, Chaloner K, Czarniecki CW, Goldstein JS, Hunsicker LG, Kaufman DB, Korsgren O, Larsen CP, Luo X, Markmann JF, Naji A, Oberholzer J, Posselt AM, Rickels MR, Ricordi C, Robien MA, Senior PA, Shapiro AM, Stock PG, Turgeon NA and the Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium. Phase 3 Trial of Transplantation of Human Islets in Type 1 Diabetes Complicated by Severe Hypoglycemia. Diabetes Care. 2016 Jul;39(7):1230-40. doi: 10.2337/dc15-1988. Epub 2016 Apr 18. PMID: 27208344
  •  Ricordi C, Goldstein JS, Balamurugan AN, Szot GL, Kin T, Liu C, Czarniecki CW, Barbaro B, Bridges ND, Cano J, Clarke WR, Eggerman TL, Hunsicker LG, Kaufman DB, Khan A, Lafontant DE, Linetsky E, Luo X, Markmann JF, Naji A, Korsgren O, Oberholzer J, Turgeon NA, Brandhorst D, Friberg AS, Lei J, Wang LJ, Wilhelm JJ, Willits J, Zhang X, Hering BJ, Posselt AM, Shapiro AM, and the Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium. NIH-sponsored Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium Phase 3 Trial: Manufacture of a Complex Cellular Product at Eight Processing Facilities. Diabetes. 2016 Jul 27. pii: db160234. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 27465220

Quote:

"There's no point in arguing or speculating when we can know the facts."

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