Clusters of insulin-producing islet cells (in red) housed within the hydrogel designed by the UNIGE and HUG team. The blue dots represent cell nuclei.
Image Credit: © Berishvili Lab, Université de Genève
Scientific Frontline: Extended "At a Glance" Summary: Amniogel for Type 1 Diabetes
The Core Concept: Amniogel is an innovative hydrogel designed to house and support transplanted insulin-producing cells, effectively regulating blood sugar levels to eliminate the need for daily insulin injections in individuals with Type 1 diabetes.
Key Distinction/Mechanism: Unlike standard pancreatic islet transplants that frequently fail due to inflammation and poor vascularization in the liver, Amniogel creates a pre-vascularized, natural-like environment. Derived from the human amniotic membrane, it promotes the self-assembly of a microvascular network before transplantation, ensuring an immediate connection to the host's blood supply while actively shielding the graft from cytotoxic immune cells.
Major Frameworks/Components:
- Human Amniotic Membrane Matrix: The foundational biological material of the hydrogel, utilized to restore critical cellular survival signals lost during isolation.
- Pancreatic Islets: Embedded clusters of cells containing the vital insulin-producing β (beta) cells.
- Vessel-Forming Cells: Specialized cells embedded within the gel that self-organize into an active microvascular network prior to patient implantation.
- Immune Shielding Mechanism: Structural properties of the hydrogel that physically slow the migration of graft-destroying cytotoxic immune cells.
Branch of Science: Biotechnology, Regenerative Medicine, Endocrinology, Immunology, and Transplant Surgery.
Future Application: The primary technological trajectory is the development of a fully scaled, functional bioartificial pancreas for human clinical trials. Because the manufacturing process is GMP-compatible, Amniogel could also be adapted to house various other cell types for novel transplantation therapies beyond diabetes.
Why It Matters: Type 1 diabetes currently dictates a lifelong dependency on daily insulin injections. By successfully maintaining normal blood sugar levels in diabetic models for over 100 days, this technology provides a highly viable, long-term solution to the donor shortages, cellular stress, and graft rejection issues that limit current cell-based diabetes treatments.
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| Ekaterine Berishvili, Associate Professor, PI of Vanguard Project, Department of Surgery, Diabetes Centre, Faculty of Medicine, UNIGE Photo Credit: Université de Genève |
By developing an innovative gel, UNIGE and HUG researchers have achieved a major breakthrough toward a bioartificial pancreas.
Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) have made a significant advance in the fight against type 1 diabetes. Using an innovative hydrogel that supports insulin-producing cells once transplanted into the body, the team successfully regulated blood sugar levels in diabetic mice. This experimental success goes beyond conventional transplantation methods and opens the door to developing a bioartificial pancreas that could eliminate the need for insulin injections. The results, achieved within the European VANGUARD project, are published in the journal Trends in Biotechnology.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system destroys the insulin-producing β cells in the pancreas, causing blood sugar levels to become chronically unbalanced. People with this condition must inject insulin every day for life. Transplanting pancreatic islets—small clusters of insulin- and other hormone-producing cells—can temporarily restore blood sugar control and eliminate the need for insulin injections.
However, this method is limited by the shortage of donors and a high risk of rejection. In addition, when islets are infused into the liver—the standard transplant site—they suffer from inflammation, loss of their natural support matrix, and poor blood supply, all of which compromise their survival.
This experimental evidence represents a decisive step toward the development of a functional bioartificial pancreas.
A team from UNIGE and HUG, led by Ekaterine Berishvili, associate professor in the Department of Surgery and at the Diabetes Centre at the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, and head of the Cell Isolation and Transplantation Laboratory at the Transplantation Service, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), has developed an innovative hydrogel called Amniogel, designed to overcome these obstacles.
Derived from the human amniotic membrane—the innermost layer of the membranes surrounding the fetus, easily obtained from the placenta after birth—it restores survival signals lost during islet isolation and allows a microvascular network to self-assemble inside the construct before transplantation. Once implanted, this preformed network connects with the host's blood supply, supporting durable graft function. In laboratory tests, the gel also slows the migration of cytotoxic immune cells, suggesting it may help shield the graft early after transplantation.
Normal Blood Sugar Levels for at Least 100 Days
“This gel creates a protective, natural-like environment in which we embed pancreatic islets together with vessel-forming cells. Before transplantation, those cells self-organize into a network of microvessels surrounding the islets, so the graft arrives prevascularized,” explains Ekaterine Berishvili. Successfully transplanted into diabetic mice, this construct—thin, disc-shaped grafts approximately 9 mm in diameter—was able to maintain normal blood sugar levels for at least 100 days, the full duration of the follow-up, outperforming both islets transplanted alone and constructs without engineered vasculature. Amniogel is also produced through a GMP-compatible process, a key requirement for future clinical translation.
Approaching Clinical Application
"This experimental evidence represents a decisive step toward the development of a functional bioartificial pancreas," the researcher stated enthusiastically. "The next step, in order to consider a clinical application, will be to produce larger grafts—or a greater number of them—to meet the requirements for use in humans." Moreover, Amniogel could be used to house many other types of cells, thus paving the way for cell transplantation therapies beyond diabetes.
Additional information: This bioartificial pancreas project, recognized by the European Commission’s Innovation Radar, was developed as part of the European VANGUARD project, led by UNIGE.
Published in journal: Trends in Biotechnology
Title: Implantable vascularized endocrine constructs for clinically scalable insulin delivery
Authors: Kevin Bellofatto, Fanny Lebreton, Masoud Hasany, Reine Hanna, Juliette Bignard, Antoine Marteyn, Laura Mar Fonseca, Francesco Campo, Cristina Olgasi, Alessia Cucci, Lelia Wolf-van Bürck, Mohsen Honarpisheh, Morgane Fouche, Virginie Mathias, Xavier Charmetant, Begoña Martinez de Tejada, Antonia Follenzi, Antonio Citro, Lorenzo Piemonti, Jochen Seissler, Olivier Thaunat, Philippe Compagnon, Marie Cohen, and Ekaterine Berishvili
Source/Credit: Université de Genève
Reference Number: btech051826_01
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