Eye implant could enable cell-based treatment of diabetes

Developed by a team from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Karolinska Institutet, it is envisioned that the 3D-printed device will eventually encapsulate insulin-producing pancreatic cells and electronic sensors. The team’s findings have been published in Advanced Materials.  

The collaboration enables micro-organs - pancreatic islets or islets of Langerhans - to be positioned precisely in the eye without the need for sutures. It offers the possibility of cell-based therapy for conditions such as Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes using the eye as a base.

Anna Herland, senior lecturer in the Division of Bionanotechnology at SciLifeLab at KTH and the AIMES research centre at KTH and Karolinska Institutet, said the eye has no immune cells that react unfavourably in the first stage of implantation. Furthermore, its transparency allows visual and microscopic study of what happens to the implant over time.

“The eye is our only window into the body, and it’s immune-privileged,” Herland said in a statement.

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The device is designed as an approximately 240µ long wedge, which allows the structure to be mechanically fixed at the angle between the iris and the cornea in the anterior chamber of the eye (ACE). According to the team, their work demonstrates the first mechanical fixation of a device in the anterior chamber of the eye.

“We designed the medical device to hold living mini-organs in a micro-cage and introduced the use of a flap door technique to avoid the need for additional fixation,” said Wouter van der Wijngaart, professor in the Division of Micro- and Nanosystems at KTH.

In tests on mice, the device maintained its position for several months, and the mini-organs quickly integrated with the host animal's blood vessels and functioned normally, Herland said.

“The current unit is unique and will among other things form the basis for our continued work to develop an integrated microsystem for studying the function and survival of the islets of Langerhans in the anterior chamber of the eye,” said Per-Olof Berggren, professor of experimental endocrinology at Karolinska Institutet. “This is also of great translational importance, as transplantation of Langerhans islands to the anterior chamber of the eye in humans is subject to clinical trials in patients with diabetes."

Herland said the technology overcomes one obstacle to the development of cell therapies as there is no need for invasive methods to monitor the graft’s function.

“Ours is a first step towards advanced medical microdevices that can both localise and monitor the function of cell grafts,” she said.

The design makes it possible to position mini-organs such as organoids and islets of Langerhans without limiting the supply of nutrients to the cells, said Herland.

“Our design will enable future integration and use of more advanced device functions such as integrated electronics or drug release."