The Creation of Functional Pseudoislets Using Modular Tissue Engineering

Pancreatic islet transplantation exists as an option for treating type I diabetes but is not widely used as there is a shortage of donors and it requires intensive immunosuppression. We investigated aggregating islet cells in modules (injectable microtissue structures) to create pseudoislets that have better vasculature and ability to reverse hyperglycemia. Blood outgrowth endothelial cells (BOEC) are autologous and easily obtained, making them an ideal endothelial cell source. Results showed there were no significant differences in vascularization when using BOEC rather than human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) or when embedding them in modules compared to coating them. Diabetic SCID-Bg mice returned to normoglycemia faster when subcutaneously implanted with BOEC coated modules or modules containing alphaTC1-6 cells along with MIN6 cells (in a 33/67 mix). Future work with stem cell sources could eliminate the strain on donor supply and lead to a long-term solution for those with type I diabetes.