Diabetes remains a global healthcare challenge, affecting around 370 million people worldwide. For some patients, diabetes is caused by the destruction of the insulin-producing cells by the host immune system. These cells are called beta cells and clusters of these cells are found together in the pancreas, called islets. For a sub-set of Diabetes Type I patients, transplanting donor islets into the patient can help to restore glucose control in some patients. However, like other patients who receive a kidney or lung transplant, these patients have to take immunosuppressive drugs, often daily, for the remainder of their lives to prevent transplant rejection. These drugs can impact the quality of life for the patient, and may lead to an impaired immune system at risk of opportunistic pathogens and increased cancer risk.
There is an unmet clinical need to develop new tools and technologies that can deliver immune suppression locally to protect transplanted tissue from rejection by the immune system. These new materials should simultaneously support transplanted tissues in integrating with the host, whilst allowing the host immune system to function normally in response to infection and disease in other parts of the body. Developing this technology would enable transplant patients to live healthier lives.
The scientific aim of this project was to develop innovative multifunctional materials for diabetes-1 cell therapies; those that can better support islet function and also direct the host immune system. We hoped that these technologies would help us to study how the immune system responds to transplanted materials. Indeed, we found that by developing materials which deliver anti-inflammatory cytokines directly to the transplant niche, we were able to extend transplant lifetimes with reduced need for systemic immune suppression. Our next steps will be to evaluate different delivery systems which can get these immunoregulatory molecules to the right place at the right time.
