Special Issue

Human Islets for Diabetes Research and Transplantation

Submission Deadline: March 31, 2019 (Closed)

Guest Editor

Tatsuya Kin, MD, PhD

Clinical Islet Laboratory, University of Alberta Hospital, 210 College Plaza, 8215-112 St, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G2C8

Website | E-Mail

Research Interests: Islet isolation; islet transplantation

About the Topic

The past decade has seen enormous progress in clinical islet transplantation as a therapy for type 1 diabetes, as well as steady expansion in human islet isolation activity worldwide. Islet isolation centers have been providing human islets for clinical transplantation and for basic research. Thanks to improvement of islet isolation technology and implementation of islet distribution programs, many basic researchers now have access to this valuable resource. In the face of recent recognition that human islets differ in a critical way from nonhuman counterparts, the demand of human islets for basic research is ever increasing and novel findings on human islet biology are accumulating. Also cells derived from human pancreatic tissue have a potential for future development of cellular based therapy for diabetes. The aim of this issue is to serve as a platform to update the current knowledge and recent progress in the basic research utilizing human islets as well as in clinical islet transplantation.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted through the LIDSEN Submission System. Detailed information on manuscript preparation and submission is available in the Instructions for Authors. All submitted articles will be thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process and will be processed following the Editorial Process and Quality Control policy. Upon acceptance, the article will be immediately published in a regular issue of the journal and will be listed together on the special issue website, with a label that the article belongs to the Special Issue. LIDSEN distributes articles under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) License in an open-access model. The authors own the copyright to the article, and the article can be free to access, distribute, and reuse provided that the original work is correctly cited.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). Research articles and review articles are highly invited. Authors are encouraged to send the tentative title and abstract of the planned paper to the Editorial Office (transplantation@lidsen.com) for record. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office.

Welcome your submission!

Publication

Open Access Short Report Estradiol 17-β Induces Pancreatic Beta-Cell Proliferation through Distinct Estrogen Receptors in a Glucose Dependent Manner by Sigal Shaklai  , Meital Grafi-Cohen  , Orli Sharon  , Gabi Shefer  , Dalia Somjen  and Naftali Stern Received: 17 April 2019;  Published: 27 August 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1903082 Abstract Background: Estradiol 17-beta (E2) enhances the function and survival of pancreatic beta-cells but its clinical use has been questioned due to concerns regarding oncogenic potential and feminizing effects in males. The G-protein coupled estrogen receptor (GPER), expressed in pancreatic islets, exhibits estrogenic beta-cell protective effects [...]

Open Access Research Article Immunoprotective Encapsulation of Micro-Organs by Assaf Assis  , Lena Sapozhnikov  , Sandra Camargo  and Eduardo Mitrani Received: 07 May 2019;  Published: 14 August 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1903078 Abstract Background: Cell encapsulation technology is most likely the ultimate solution for autologous cell therapy based clinical approaches. A key issue when developing a functional encapsulated construct, is to consider not only the nature of the capsule but also how the cells should be incorporated into the capsule in order to minimally compromise [...]

Open Access Review Our Steps toward Subcutaneous Transplantation of Macro-Encapsulated Islets by Shoichiro Sumi  , Sin-Yu Yang  , Priyadarshini Canning  and Kai-Chiang Yang Received: 29 May 2019;  Published: 24 July 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1903074 Abstract Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) can be cured or greatly ameliorated by adequate insulin secretion from a relatively small volume of insulin-producing cells. Cell encapsulation enables allo- and even xeno-geneic cell therapy without immunosuppression. However, micro-encapsulated islets used in recent clinical trials are not fully retrievable [...]

Open Access Review Single Cell Transcriptomic Analysis of Pancreatic β Cell Development and Differentiation from Pluripotent Stem Cells by Chunhui Xie  , Yeh-Chuin Poh  , Lillian Ye  and George Harb Received: 06 May 2019;  Published: 17 July 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1903072 Abstract Single cell genomics is a powerful tool to study cellular heterogeneity and discover novel cell types. Recent studies used single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to analyze the transcriptomes of individual pancreatic islet cells. Islets are a complex mixture of endocrine cells and therefore represent an ideal tissue for single cell transcripto [...]

Open Access Research Article A Simple and Effective Non-Human Primate Diabetic Model Combining Sub-Total Pancreatectomy and Low-Dose Streptozotocin Injection by Ibrahim Fathi  , Takehiro Imura  , Kozue Imura  , Megumi Goto  , Yasuhiro Igarashi  , Akiko Inagaki  , Makiko Kikkawa  , Fumiko Ono  , Hiroo Iwata  , Yohichi Yasunami  and Masafumi Goto Received: 27 March 2019;  Published: 09 July 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1903071 Abstract BACKGROUND. Current non-human primate diabetic models, namely those induced by total pancreatectomy or streptozotocin (STZ) injection, suffer from several disadvantages, including a long surgical procedure, the need for continual digestive enzyme replacement, and a delayed oral intake after total pancreatectomy and severe hypoglycemia and [...]

Open Access Research Article The DPP4 Inhibitor Sitagliptin Increases Active GLP-1 Levels from Human Islets and May Increase Islet Cell Survival Prior to Transplantation by Scott A. Campbell  , Matthew Hubert  , Janyne Johnson  , Nicole Salamon  and Peter E. Light Received: 12 March 2019;  Published: 26 June 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1902069 Abstract Background One of the goals of clinical islet transplantation is to achieve a single-donor transplant that is dependent on obtaining enough quality  cell mass from one donor pancreas. Human islets are routinely cultured prior to transplantation, and pro-survival factors such as GLP-1 analogues have been reported to maintain  cell mass [...]

Open Access Review Human Islet Isolation and Distribution Efforts for Clinical and Basic Research by Natasha Hui Jin Ng  , Wei Xuan Tan  , Ye xin Koh  and Adrian Kee Keong Teo Received: 11 March 2019;  Published: 21 June 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1902068 Abstract The ability to obtain purified human islets routinely and reproducibly has enabled substantial progress in providing a safe and reliable treatment option for adult Type 1 diabetes patients. The availability of human islets for basic research has also significantly impacted the progress of understanding human islet biology and consequently [...]

Open Access Original Research Low Cost, Enriched Collagenase-Purified Protease Enzyme Mixtures Successfully Used for Human Islet Isolation by Abid Hussain  , Daniel R. Collins  , Michael L. Green  , Francis E. Dwulet  , Stuart K. Williams  , Klearchos K. Papas  , Robert C. McCarthy  , Gopalakrishnan Loganathan  , Michael G. Hughes  , Gregory L. Szot  , Kate E. Smith  and Appakalai N. Balamurugan Received: 29 March 2019;  Published: 24 May 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1902064 Abstract Background: Purified bacterial collagenase and protease enzymes are commonly used to recover human islets from clinical grade pancreata for subsequent clinical islet transplantation. The high cost of purified enzymes can be prohibitive for recovering human islets from research pancreata used for translational research or pre-clinical studies [...]

Open Access Editorial Pancreatic Islet Transplantation: State of the Art and Future Perspectives by Jérôme Danion  , Gianluca Donatini  , Sébastien Giraud  , Jean-Louis Kraimps  and Thierry Hauet Received: 08 April 2019;  Published: 15 April 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1902062 Abstract Pancreatic islet transplantation represents an effective therapy with lower morbidity for patients carriers of type 1 diabetes compared to whole pancreas transplantation. Although complete insulin independence is usually not achieved it allows control of glycemia balance reducing the risk of severe hypoglycaemia events and impaired awareness [...]

Open Access Review Islet Autotransplantations for Total Pancreatectomy by Naoaki Sakata  , Gumpei Yoshimatsu  and Shohta Kodama Received: 15 January 2019;  Published: 03 April 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1902059 Abstract Total pancreatectomy (TP) is performed for not only malignant pancreatic diseases but also benign disease like chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic injury. However, it always abolishes the pancreatic exo- and endocrine functions and the nutritional condition of the patients is significantly impaired. Thus, especially in the case of benign diseas [...]