Spider-silk-inspired implant coating has promise for type I diabetes treatment

In type I diabetes, the sufferer's body completely loses its ability to produce insulin, because – for still unknown reasons – the immune system destroys the clusters of cells in the pancreas, known as islets, which produce the hormone. While most diabetics inject insulin several times a day to manage their blood-sugar levels, there has been some investigation of transplanting healthy islets. But so far, this has required subsequent treatment with powerful immunosuppressive drugs, which have unpleasant side effects.

Researchers at Cornell University in New York State are investigating whether the immune system can be tricked into ignoring the transplanted islets by coating them with a protective layer of a hydrogel polymer. Such an approach has previously been discounted because hundreds of thousands of cells need to be implanted to produce an effective reservoir of insulin production, and the encapsulated cells cannot be removed if they fail or die. If this happens, the transplants can generate tumours. “When they fail or die, they need to come out,” said research leader Minglin Ma of the department of biological and environmental engineering. “You don't want to put something in the body that you can’t take out. With our method, that’s not a problem.”