Delayed graft rejection in autoimmune islet transplantation via biomaterial immunotherapy

The induction of operational immune tolerance is a major goal in beta-cell replacement strategies for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Our group previously reported long-term efficacy via biomaterial-mediated programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) immunotherapy in islet allografts in nonautoimmune models. In this study, we evaluated autoimmune recurrence and allograft rejection during islet transplantation in spontaneous nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice. Graft survival and metabolic function were significantly prolonged over 60 days in recipients of syngeneic islets receiving the biomaterial-delivered immunotherapy, but not in control animals. The biomaterial-mediated PD-L1 immunotherapy resulted in delayed allograft rejection in diabetic NOD mice compared with controls. Discrimination between responders and nonresponders was attributed to the enriched presence of CD206+ program death 1+ macrophages and exhausted signatures in the cytotoxic T cell compartment in the local graft microenvironment. Notably, draining lymph nodes had similar remodeling in innate and adaptive immune cell populations. This work establishes that our biomaterial platform for PD-L1 delivery can modulate immune responses to transplanted islets in diabetic NOD mice and, thus, can provide a platform for the development of immunologic strategies to curb the allo- and autoimmune processes in beta-cell transplant recipients.