Bioprinting of human primary and iPSC-derived islets with retained and comparable functionality

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Regenerative Medicine
• Diabetes Research

Background:

• Current type 1 diabetes (T1D) treatments using allogenic islets require immunosuppression.
• Personalized cellular therapy with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offers an autologous alternative.
• Bioprinting is a potential method for uniformly implanting encapsulated cells for therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of bioprinting functional islets.
• To determine optimal bioink, printing parameters, and cell configurations for islet bioprinting.
• To assess the functionality and viability of bioprinted primary human islets and iPSC-derived islets.

Main Methods:

• Bioprinting of primary human islets and iPSC-derived islets using an alginate/methylcellulose bioink.
• Assessment of cell viability and function post-printing.
• Sc-RNAseq analysis to evaluate genetic expression and metabolic functionality of iPSC-derived islets.

Main Results:

• Successful bioprinting of functional primary human islets and iPSC-derived islets.
• Sustained functionality of both cell types within the bioprinted construct.
• Sc-RNAseq confirmed no adverse effects of printing on iPSC-derived islet gene expression and metabolic function.
• iPSC-derived islets demonstrated comparable functionality to primary islets.

Conclusions:

• Bioprinting with alginate/methylcellulose is a viable method for creating functional islet constructs.
• iPSC-derived islets maintain their functionality after bioprinting, presenting a promising alternative cell source for T1D.
• This approach could reduce the need for immunosuppression in T1D cell transplantation therapy.