Transplantation of Macroencapsulated Insulin-Producing Cells

Purpose of Review There is considerable interest in using macroencapsulation devices as a delivery strategy for transplanting insulin-producing cells. This review aims to summarize recent advances, to highlight remaining challenges, and to provide recommendations for the field. Recent Findings A var...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current diabetes reports 2018-08, Vol.18 (8), p.50-7, Article 50
Main Authors: Hwa, Albert J., Weir, Gordon C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Cells, Immobilized - transplantation
Clinical Trials as Topic
Diabetes
Humans
Immunology
Insulin
Insulin-Secreting Cells - transplantation
Islets of Langerhans Transplantation
Kinetics
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Phenotype
Regenerative Medicine
Regenerative Medicine (L Piemonti and V Sordi
Section Editors
Topical Collection on Immunology
Transplantation
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Summary:Purpose of Review There is considerable interest in using macroencapsulation devices as a delivery strategy for transplanting insulin-producing cells. This review aims to summarize recent advances, to highlight remaining challenges, and to provide recommendations for the field. Recent Findings A variety of new device designs have been reported to improve biocompatibility and to provide protection for islet/beta cells from immune destruction while allowing continuous secretion of insulin. Some of these new approaches are in clinical trials, but more research is needed to determine how sufficient beta-cell mass can be transplanted in a clinically applicable device size, and that insulin is secreted with kinetics that will safely provide adequate controls of glucose levels. Summary Macroencapsulation is a potential solution to transplant beta cells without immunosuppression in diabetes patients, but new strategies must be developed to show that this approach is feasible.
ISSN:1534-4827
1539-0829
DOI:10.1007/s11892-018-1028-y