The project aims to improve pancreatic islet transplant therapy for diabetes mellitus, a chronic disease characterised by high blood sugar due to a shortage of insulin. Transplant of insulin-producing pancreatic islets purified from donor pancreases can restore tight natural control of blood sugar and eliminate the need for multiple daily injections of insulin, thereby improving patient’s quality of life.
However, despite its proven effectiveness among current treatments for type 1 diabetes, this therapy suffers from poor survival and engraftment of transplanted islets and risks associated with the lifelong immune suppression medication that islet transplant recipients must take.
These factors limit the use of this therapy to a small percentage of “brittle” type 1 diabetes patients for whom daily insulin injections are not sufficient to control their diabetes.
Our collaborators have developed a device for islet cell encapsulation that consists of microporous membranes which allow diffusion of glucose and insulin but provide an immune barrier such that medication to suppress the immune response is not required. The device (β-shell) was filled with islet cells and a material to support islet cell growth (β-gel), and implanted in rats. The overall objective of this project is to assess the host response to the implants.