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Updated: Oct 2, 2025
Generation of Scaffold-free, Three-dimensional Insulin Expressing Pancreatoids from Mouse Pancreatic Progenitors In Vitro
Published on: June 2, 2018
Making human pancreatic islet organoids: Progresses on the cell origins, biomaterials and three-dimensional
Lai Jiang1, Yiru Shen2, Yajing Liu3
1Department of Biological Repositories, Frontier Science Center for Immunology and Metabolism, Medical Research Institute, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China.
Abstract:
Diabetes is one of the most socially challenging health concerns. Even though islet transplantation has shown promise for insulin-dependent diabetes, there is still no effective method for curing diabetes due to the severe shortage of transplantable donors. In recent years, organoid technology has attracted lots of attention as organoid can mirror the human organ in vivo to the maximum extent in vitro, thus bridging the gap between cellular- and tissue/organ-level biological models. Concurrently, human pancreatic islet organoids are expected to be a considerable source of islet transplantation. To construct human islet-like organoids, the seeding cells, biomaterials and three-dimensional structure are three key elements. Herein, this review summarizes current progresses about the cell origins, biomaterials and advanced technology being applied to make human islet organoids, and discusses the advantages, shortcomings, and future challenges of them as well. We hope this review can offer a cross-disciplinary perspective to build human islet organoids and provide insights for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
