Optimization & Automation of Pancreatic Islet Isolation

描述(申请人提供)：胰岛同种异体移植已被证明可以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。这一实验程序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。为了绕过人类供体组织可获得性的问题，人们研究了使用动物组织，特别是来自猪的组织，并结合微胶囊等技术来“免疫隔离”细胞，防止异种移植排斥反应。MicroIslets公司正在开发一种改进的制备微囊化猪胰岛细胞的方法，用于治疗I型糖尿病。MicroIslet使用从杜克大学获得许可的技术作为基础，为胰岛细胞的分离、调节、存储和微囊化产生改进的方法。在这里，我们概述了猪胰岛分离的新方法，即每个胰腺将收获40万个胰岛。初步数据显示，使用该技术制备的猪胰岛细胞一次腹腔注射(IP)可使先前患糖尿病的狒狒维持正常血糖水平(100-150 mg/dl)14个月，而不需要额外注射胰岛素或潜在有害的免疫抑制药物来防止移植排斥反应。

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.