Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease where the immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Currently, approximately 1.4 million people live with T1D in the United States, and this number is projected to rise to over 2 million by 2040.1 Without insulin, the body is unable to regulate its blood sugar levels, and many patients with T1D require lifelong insulin injections.
An alternative T1D treatment is clinical pancreatic islet transplantation (CIT), where beta cell-containing islets from a donor enter into a patient’s circulation through the portal vein and ultimately engraft in the liver. While CIT has had promising results, some challenges remain including the need for patients to be on immunosuppressive therapy to avoid transplant rejection, which can lead to opportunistic infections and organ toxicity.2 To avoid administering immunosuppressive drugs, researchers have explored transplanting beta cells encapsulated in materials that physically block immune cell attack. However, ...
