Letizia Franco
Development of space keeper strategies for enhanced islet transplantation inside the Neovascularized Implantable Cell Homing Encapsulation (NICHE) device for type 1 diabetes treatment.
Rel. Valentina Alice Cauda, Alessandro Grattoni. Politecnico di Torino, Corso di laurea magistrale in Ingegneria Biomedica, 2024
Abstract
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic autoimmune disease that in 2022 affected approximately 8.75 million individuals worldwide. T1D is characterized by the loss of pancreatic β-cells responsible for producing insulin, a fundamental hormone that regulates blood glucose levels. Patients with T1D require lifelong insulin replacement through multiple daily insulin injections or insulin pump therapy. However, these therapies don’t fully restore glycemic control and don’t prevent T1D long-term complications such as neuropathy, retinopathy, kidney disease, stroke, macrovascular problems and foot damage. Islet transplantation is a promising alternative to restore the insulin production in a more physiological way, but it still faces significant challenges including the lack of donor availability and requirement of lifelong immunosuppression.
The Neovascularized Implantable Cell Homing Encapsulation (NICHE) device attempts to overcome these challenges by encapsulating transplanted cells, protecting them with localized immunosuppression while providing a well-vascularized environment to maintain the viability and function of the cells
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