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Shielding islets with human amniotic epithelial cells enhances islet engraftment and revascularization in a murine diabetes model
Author(s) -
Lebreton Fanny,
Bellofatto Kevin,
Wassmer Charles H.,
Perez Lisa,
Lavallard Vanessa,
Parnaud Géraldine,
CottetDumoulin David,
KerrConte Julie,
Pattou François,
Bosco Domenico,
OtheninGirard Véronique,
Martinez de Tejada Begoña,
Berishvili Ekaterine
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
american journal of transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1600-6143
pISSN - 1600-6135
DOI - 10.1111/ajt.15812
Subject(s) - islet , medicine , transplantation , andrology , in vivo , amniotic epithelial cells , in vitro , diabetes mellitus , endocrinology , biology , endothelial stem cell , adult stem cell , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology
Hypoxia is a major cause of considerable islet loss during the early posttransplant period. Here, we investigate whether shielding islets with human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs), which possess anti‐inflammatory and regenerative properties, improves islet engraftment and survival. Shielded islets were generated on agarose microwells by mixing rat islets (RIs) or human islets (HI) and hAECs (100 hAECs/IEQ). Islet secretory function and viability were assessed after culture in hypoxia (1% O 2 ) or normoxia (21% O 2 ) in vitro. In vivo function was evaluated after transplant under the kidney capsule of diabetic immunodeficient mice. Graft morphology and vascularization were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Both shielded RIs and HIs show higher viability and increased glucose‐stimulated insulin secretion after exposure to hypoxia in vitro compared with control islets. Transplant of shielded islets results in considerably earlier normoglycemia and vascularization, an enhanced glucose tolerance, and a higher β cell mass. Our results show that hAECs have a clear cytoprotective effect against hypoxic damages in vitro. This strategy improves β cell mass engraftment and islet revascularization, leading to an improved capacity of islets to reverse hyperglycemia, and could be rapidly applicable in the clinical situation seeing that the modification to HIs are minor.