Without the need for anti-rejection drugs, scientists develop subcutaneous implants: type 1 diabetes has been reversed in experimental mice

CTOnews.com, Dec. 6 (Xinhua)-- researchers have developed a new technique that successfully reverses type 1 diabetes in experimental mice by implanting a linear device containing pancreatic cells (mainly insulin secretion) under the skin without taking anti-rejection drugs.

In type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system attacks and destroys islet cells in the pancreas to stop insulin secretion, requiring a lifetime injection of insulin or the use of an insulin pump.

A team of researchers from Cornell University and the University of Alberta have developed a subcutaneous implant that not only secretes insulin but also avoids the potential immune response caused by the implanted device.

Ma of Cornell University's School of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) developed TRAFFIC in 2017, a thread-reinforced alginate fiber that encapsulates insulin and is a movable nylon thread implant.

TRAFFIC contains hundreds of thousands of islet cells, protected by a thin alginate saline gel coating and inserted into the abdominal cavity.

On this basis, Ma created a more powerful implant version in 2021 that effectively controlled blood sugar in mice for up to six months.

James Shapiro (James Shapiro), an American diabetes researcher, noticed Ma's implant research and then collaborated to create new islet cell implants, which are regulated by immunosuppression by implanting them into channels under the skin.

CTOnews.com attached the reference address of the paper: Wang, LH., Marfil-Garza, B.A., Ernst, A.U. Et al. Inflammation-induced subcutaneous neovascularization for the long-term survival of encapsulated islets without immunosuppression. Nat. Biomed. Eng (2023). Https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-023-01145-8