Successful transplantation of islets into inguinal subcutaneous white adipose tissue. Mus musculus

Islet transplantation is an attractive treatment for patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, and currently the liver is the favored transplantation site. However, an alternative site is desirable because of the low efficiency of hepatic transplantation, requiring 2-3 donors for a single recipient, and because the transplanted islets cannot be accessed or retrieved. Here we describe a novel site for islet transplantation, the inguinal subcutaneous white adipose tissue. In this site, transplanted islets are engrafted as clusters and function to reverse diabetes in mice. Importantly, transplanted islets can be visualized by CT and are easily retrievable, and allograft rejection is preventable by blockade of co-stimulatory signals. Of much interest, the efficiency of islet transplantation is superior to the liver, with increased mass of transplanted β cells. Furthermore, transplanted human islets function to reverse diabetes in immunodeficient mice. Thus, this adipose tissue site may be ideal for clinical islet transplantation. Overall design: Gene expression of was observed before and after islet translplantation