Bioprinting of Encapsulated Pancreatic Islets

Type 1 diabetes affects an estimated 320.000 persons in the United Kingdom, and costs the National Health Service roughly £1 billion (or €1.4 billion) per year. In this autoimmune disease, insulin producing beta-cells, which can only be found in the pancreatic islets, are destroyed by the immune-system of the patients. These patients have to live by a strict regime of constant measuring their blood glucose levels, and administering insulin accordingly. Even with this strict regime, this treatment doesn’t work on all patients. For these patients, islet transplantation might be an answer. However, there are two major problems with the current method of transplantation: A majority of islets are lost during transplantation due to immune reactions, and transplantation is currently limited by the availability of donors. . By encapsulating islets in a hydrogel to shield them from the immune system, islet survival post transplantation could be enhanced.[1] In this ongoing research, a novel way of encapsulating islets is investigated.
Alginate has been chosen as the encapsulation hydrogel of choice. Alginate is biocompatible, easy to handle as it is fluid until cross-linked, widely used and cheap. However, commercially available alginate is usually contaminated with foreign bodies which could set of the immune-system when transplanted. We have developed a novel purification process based on the work of Klöck et al.[2] to get rid of the impurities, making these natural occurring materials suited for transplantation.
1. 1 de Vos, P., et al;.Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 2014. 67–68(0): p. 15-34
2. 2 Klöck, G., et al.. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 1994. 40(5): p. 638-643