IMMUNOISOLATION OF XENOGENEIC ISLETS OF LANGERHANS USING A TISSUE ENGINEERED CARTILAGE BARRIER

Islet transplantation is a potential cure for diabetes mellitus. The m ajor problem for clinical application remains the prevention of transp lant rejection without major side effects. Broad application in early disease will make the usage of xenogeneic tissue necessary. Immunoisol ation is an experimental strategy to prevent rejection, by separating the transplanted allogeneic or xenogeneic cells from the host immune s ystem using a barrier device. Current methods of immunoisolation use a rtificial, not completely inert materials as barrier devices and induc e an unwanted foreign body reaction. Using recipient own cells for enc apsulation the foreign body reaction could be prevented. This study de scribes a new method of encapsulation of islets of Langerhans within a capsule of chondrocytes, which may serve as an immunoisolation barrie r utilizing the immunoprivileged properties of the chondrocyte matrix and demonstrates the functional survival of the encapsulated islets in vivo.