Background Islet transplantation represents an ideal therapeutic approach for treatment of type 1 diabetes but islet function and regeneration may be influenced by necrosis or apoptosis induced by oxidative stress and other insults. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the catabolism of heme into biliverdin,releasing free iron and carbon monoxide. It has also been reported to be an antioxidant enzyme which can improve the function of grafted islets by cytoprotection via free radical scavenging and apoptosis prevention. In the present study, we investigated whether transduction of HO-1 genes into human islets with an adenovirus vector has cytoprotective action on islets cultured in vitro and discuss this method of gene therapy for clinical islet transplantation.Methods Cadaveric pancreatic islets were isolated and purified in vitro. Transduction efficiency of islets was determined by infecting islets with adenovirus vector containing the enhanced green fluorescent protein gene (Ad-EGFP) at multiplicities of infection (MOI) of 2, 5, 10, or 20. Newly isolated islets were divided into three groups: EGFP group, islets transduced with Ad-EGFP using MOI=20; HO-1 group, transduced with adenovirus vectors containing the human HO-1 gene using MOI=20; and control group, mock transduced islets. Insulin release after glucose stimulation of the cell lines was determined by a radioimmunoassay kit and the stimulation index was calculated. Flow cytometry was used to detect apoptotic cells in the HO-1 group and in the control group after induction by recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-α (rTNFα) and cycloheximide (CHX) for 48 hours.Results Adenovirus vectors have a high efficiency of gene transduction into adult islet cells. Transduction of islets with the Ad-EGFP was most successful at MOI 20, at which MOI fluorescence was very intense on day 7 after transduction and EGFP was expressed in cultured islet cells for more than four weeks in vitro. The insulin release in the control group was (182.36± 58.96) Miu/L after stimulation by high glucose media (16.7 mmol/L),while insulin release from the HO-1 group and the EGFP group were (270.09 ± 89.37) Miu/L and (175.95 ± 75.05) Miu/L respectively. Compared to the control group and the EGFP group, insulin release in the HO-1 group increased significantly (P＜0.05). After treatment with rTNFα and CHX the apoptotic ratio of islet cells was (63.09 ±10.86)% in the HO-1 group, significantly lower than (90.86 ± 11.25)% in the control group (P＜0.05).Conclusions Transduction of human islets with Ad-HO-1 can protect against TNF-α and CHX mediated cytotoxicity. The HO-1 gene also appears to facilitate insulin release from human islets. Transduction of donor islets with the adenovirus vector containing an HO-1 gene might have potential value in clinical islet transplantation.