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Scientists have developed an implant capable of treating type 1 diabetes without immunosuppression, providing additional oxygen flow to insulin-producing cells. Unlike previous devices, the new implant maintains high pancreatic cell density thanks to a miniature removable oxygen-producing electric generator. This innovative technology may be adapted in the future to treat other chronic diseases.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which immune cells attack the beta cells of the pancreas responsible for producing insulin. As a result, the body loses control of blood sugar levels, and patients are forced to rely on insulin injections for the rest of their lives. This requires constant and careful monitoring of diet, sleep, stress levels, and other factors.
Despite advances in insulin therapy, existing treatments do not eliminate the risk of serious complications, such as severe hypoglycemic episodes or irreversible organ damage due to chronically elevated sugar levels. For several decades, scientists have been researching cell therapy as a possible solution. Clinical trials of pancreatic islet transplantation have shown that glucose control without external insulin administration is possible.
However, this approach has significant limitations: patients still require lifelong immunosuppression, which increases the risk of infections and nephrotoxicity (kidney damage). An alternative is cell encapsulation technology, in which transplanted cells are placed in a semipermeable shell that protects them from the immune system but allows molecules necessary for metabolism to pass through.
The main problem remains the lifespan of the implant after transplantation. “One of the main difficulties is cell death due to oxygen deprivation after implantation,” explains Laura Phuong Tran, a graduate student in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University (USA).
To solve this problem, Tran and her colleagues developed an implant with a built-in oxygen generator. “We need to provide two key functions: protection from the immune system and maintenance of metabolism, that is, the penetration of glucose and other nutrients,” she explains.
The device, described in the journal Nature Communications, is a cylindrical capsule with a ring-shaped cross-section containing pancreatic islets. It has a removable oxygen generator the size of a small coin built into it. The capsule is surrounded by a nanofiber membrane that blocks the access of immune cells but allows molecules such as glucose to pass through.
The central membrane, which is also permeable, distributes oxygen to the cell clusters. “This system provides a constant supply of oxygen through the electrolysis of tissue moisture, allowing for a high density of encapsulated cells (60,000 IEQ/ml),” the study authors write.
The technology is based on previous developments by the laboratory of Minglin Ma, professor of biological and environmental engineering at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). Early versions of the capsules, tested on mice, effectively controlled sugar levels, but their lifespan was limited due to a lack of oxygen.
“In our experiments, mice with implants lived for more than a year, and diabetes remained under control despite the lack of additional oxygen supply. However, scaling up the technology requires more cells, which means higher density. Without oxygen, the cells often died within two weeks,” Tran notes.
The new implant has been successfully tested in rats. After subcutaneous implantation, the capsule prevented the penetration of immune cells, and the membrane remained functional for several months without clogging. The device compensated for diabetes for up to three months without immunosuppression, while the control group remained hyperglycemic.
According to the researchers, these results confirm that the implant provides more accurate blood sugar control and, in the future, could significantly improve patients’ quality of life, allowing them to eat and be active almost as much as healthy people.
The next step will be testing on larger animals, such as pigs, as well as on human stem cells. Scientists are also considering the possibility of long-term use of the technology to treat other chronic diseases.
“We envision a future in which implants with allogeneic cells derived from human stem cell lines will be able to permanently replace lost bodily functions,” says Linda Tempelman, co-author of the study. Such capsules could be used to deliver endorphins for pain relief, enzymes for replacement therapy, or anti-inflammatory molecules to patients with autoimmune diseases accompanied by uncontrolled inflammation.
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