Good news!
"An international team of scientists has 3D printed human islet – the insulin-producing cell clusters in the pancreas – in what they claim is “a critical step toward personalised, implantable therapies for diabetes. ...
The durable, high density islet structures are designed to be implanted just under the skin. They have been shown to remain alive and functional, maintaining a strong insulin-producing response to glucose (sugar) for up to 3 weeks in laboratory experiments. ...
The resulting porous structures were designed to enhance the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the islet cells and to promote the formation of blood vessels.
These factors are critical to the long-term survival and function of grafts after transplantation.
The researchers report that their approach reduced the physical stress on the islets and helped keep their natural shape, solving a major problem that had held back earlier bioprinting attempts.
The bioprinted islets remained alive and healthy with cell survival at more than 90%. After 3 weeks, they showed significantly higher insulin response to glucose levels compared to free islets. ..."
"... “This is one of the first studies to use real human islets instead of animal cells in bio-printing, and the results are incredibly promising,” study leader Quentin Perrier of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina said in a statement. ..."
From the abstract:
"OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to evaluate the impact of islet transplantation (IT) on diabetes complications, death, and cancer incidence.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
This retrospective, multicenter, cohort study included patients from three IT clinical trials (intervention group) and from the French health insurance claims database Système National des Données de Santé (SNDS) (control group). Two cohorts of IT recipients were analyzed: IT recipients after kidney transplantation (IAK) and IT recipients alone (ITA). They were matched with patients living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) from the SNDS using a propensity score. The primary outcome was a composite criterion including death, dialysis, amputation, nonfatal stroke, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and transient ischemic attack. The secondary outcome was cancer. Hazard ratio (HRs) and P values were obtained using Cox proportional hazards analysis and log-rank test, respectively.
RESULTS
The study included 61 ITA recipients matched to 610 T1D control patients and 45 IAK recipients matched to 45 T1D control patients over a median follow-up period >10 years. Compared with T1D control patients, ITA and IAK recipients had a lower composite outcome risk (HR 0.39 [95% CI 0.21–0.71; P = 0.002] and 0.52 [0.30–0.88; P = 0.014], respectively) that seemed driven by reduced mortality (0.22 [0.09–0.54]; P < 0.001) for ITA and reduced dialysis (0.19 [0.07–0.50]; P < 0.001) for IAK. Both groups showed no significant changes in cancer risk.
CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests long-term benefits of IT on diabetes-related outcomes. Furthermore, despite the use of immunosuppressive drugs following IT, we observed no significant increase in the risk of cancer. Altogether, these findings highlight a favorable risk-benefit ratio of IT in treating patients with unstable T1D."
Health Rounds: 3D printed insulin-producing cells show promise for type 1 diabetes in lab tests (Reuters news 7/2/2025)
Impact of Islet Transplantation on Diabetes Complications and Mortality in Patients Living With Type 1 Diabetes (open access, but I am not sure this is the correct article)
Graphical abstract
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