Surface Camouflage using PEG for the Transplanted Pancreatic Islets

摘要

Pancreatic islet transplantation is one of the most promising strategies for patients suffering from type 1 diabetes mellitus, but several therapeutic immunosuppressive medications must be administered simultaneously to protect transplanted islets, and these expose patients to the risk of serious complications. Furthermore, any protocol that combined several kinds of drugs could not prevent immune reactions for a long-term period. This study proposed a new combinational protocol with surface camouflage using PEG with drug treatments such as CsA and CoCl_2. The surface camouflage using PEG could prevent the infiltration of immune cells into the transplanted islets, and CsA could prevent the expression of cytokines. CoCl_2 could stimulate the over-expression of HO-1, thereby preventing the acute inflammation.