Optimization & Automation of Pancreatic Islet Isolation

描述（由申请方提供）：已证明同种异体胰岛移植可大大减少或消除胰岛素依赖型糖尿病患者对外源性胰岛素注射的需求。 这种实验性的方法为糖尿病患者提供了改善血糖调节的希望，从而降低了疾病长期并发症的风险。 为了避免人类供体组织可用性的问题，已经研究了动物组织，特别是来自猪的动物组织的使用与诸如微囊化的技术相结合，以“免疫隔离”细胞并防止异种移植排斥。 MicroIslets Inc.正在开发一种用于制备微囊化猪胰岛细胞以治疗I型糖尿病的改进方法。 MicroIslet使用杜克授权的技术作为基础，改进了胰岛细胞的分离、调节、储存和微囊化方法。 在这里，我们概述了猪胰岛分离的新方法，其中每个胰腺将收获400，000个胰岛。 初步数据表明，使用该技术制备的包封的猪胰岛细胞的单次腹膜内（ip）注射导致先前糖尿病狒狒的正常血糖水平（100-150 mg/dl）维持14个月，而不需要额外的胰岛素注射或潜在有害的免疫抑制药物来防止移植物排斥。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Islet allotransplatation has been demonstrated to greatly reduce or eliminate the requirement for exogenous insulin injection in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. This experimental procedure offers diabetic patients hope for improved blood glucose regulation and, consequently, a reduced risk of long-term complications of the disease. In order to circumvent the problem of human donor tissue availability, the use of animal tissue, particularly that from the pig, has been studied in combination with a technology such as microencapsulation to "immunoisolate" the cells and prevent xenograft rejection. MicroIslets Inc. is developing an improved method for preparation of microencapsulated porcine islet cells for the treatment of Type I diabetes. MicroIslet has used technology licensed from Duke as a basis for generating improved methodology for the isolation, conditioning, storage and microencapsulation of islet cells. Here, we outline new methodology for porcine islet isolation whereby 400,000 islets will be harvested per pancreas. Preliminary data demonstrate that a singe intraperitoneal (ip) injection of encapsulated porcine islet cells prepared using this technology resulted in maintenance of normal blood glucose levels (100-150 mg/dl) in a previously diabetic baboon for 14 months, without the need for additional insulin injections or potentially harmful immunosuppressive drugs to prevent graft rejection.