Microporous Polymer Scaffolds for the Transplantation of Embryonic Stem Cell Derived Pancreatic Progenitors to a Clinically Translatable Site for the Treatment of Type I Diabetes

Type I diabetes mellitus, which affects an estimated 1.5 million Americans, is caused by autoimmune destruction of the pancreatic beta cells that results in the need for life-long insulin therapy. Allogeneic islet transplantation for the treatment of type I diabetes is a therapy in which donor islets are infused intrahepatically, which has led to the transient reversal of diabetes. However, therapeutic limitations of allogeneic transplantation, which include a shortage of donor islets, long-term immunosuppression, and high risk of tissue rejection, have led to the investigation of embryonic or induced pluripotent stem cells as an unlimited source of functional beta-cells. Herein, we investigate the use of microporous scaffolds for their ability to promote the engraftment of stem cell derived pancreatic progenitors and their maturation toward mono-hormonal insulin producing β-cells at a clinically translatable, extrahepatic site. Initial studies demonstrated that microporous scaffolds supported cell engraftment, and their maturation to become insulin positive; however, the number of insulin positive cells and the levels of C-peptide secretion were substantially lower than what was observed with progenitor cell transplantation into the kidney capsule. The scaffolds were subsequently modified to provide a sustained release of exendin-4, which has previously been employed to promote maturation of pancreatic progenitors in vitro and has been employed to promote engraftment of transplanted islets in the peritoneal fat. Transplantation of stem cell derived pancreatic progenitors on scaffolds releasing exendin-4 led to significantly increased C-peptide production compared to scaffolds without exendin-4, with C-peptide and blood glucose levels comparable to the kidney capsule transplantation cohort. Image analysis of insulin and glucagon producing cells indicated that monohormonal insulin producing cells were significantly greater compared to glucagon producing and polyhormonal cells in scaffolds releasing exendin-4, whereas a significantly decreased percentage of insulin-producing cells were present among hormone producing cells in scaffolds without exendin-4. Collectively, a microporous scaffold, capable of localized and sustained delivery of exendin-4, enhanced the maturation and function of pluripotent stem cell derived pancreatic progenitors that were transplanted to a clinically translatable site.