Protection of β-cell transplants in Type I diabetes by induction of an immunosuppressive environment: The Symbiotic Defence Cell (SDC) strategy

This paper describes a novel strategy to confine transplanted β-cells in a natural immune suppressive matrix barrier which could provide new avenues for insights into β-cell transplantation without the use of harmful medication. Type I diabetes is characterized by autoimmune destruction of the endocrine pancreas islets. In our hypothetical strategy we include various aspects that could be beneficial for successful β-cell transplantation, dependent on the pathology-specific expression of immune response dampening molecules. Here we propose a novel strategy involving local inflammation-specific induction of immunosuppressive proteins by a Symbiotic Defence Cell (SDC). SDC is a helper cell line that could form a surrounding matrix barrier disallowing autoimmune cells to reach and destroy the pancreatic β-cells. This immunosuppressive barrier consists of usable secretion of immunosuppressive proteins like Tumor Necrosis Factor inhibitor (TNFi), Soluble Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Antigen-4 ligand (CTLA-4 ligand) and Insulin-like Growth Factor-I (IGF-I).