BACKGROUND: The potential benefits of islet xenografting in type 1 diabetes include the intriguing, but still unanswered, possibility that the grafted xenoislets may be less subjected to human autoimmune attack. Cytokines may play a major role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes by causing impairment of insulin release and pancreatic islet cell toxicity. METHODS: We compared insulin secretion, islet cell death and survival, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression, nitrite production, and Bcl-2 and Bax mRNA expression in isolated human and large mammal (bovine) islets exposed to 50 U/ml recombinant human interleukin-1, 1,000 U/ml recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-alpha and 1,000 U/ml recombinant human interferon-gamma. RESULTS: After 24-hr exposure, a marked decrease of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion was observed with human, but not with bovine islets. After 48-hr exposure, human, but not bovine, pancreatic islets showed a significantly higher percentage of apoptotic cells compared to controls. Treatment of human islets with human cytokines induced up-regulation of iNOS mRNA, increased levels of nitrites, and down-regulation of Bcl-2 mRNA, with unchanged levels of Bax mRNA. These parameters were not affected by cytokines in bovine islets. CONCLUSIONS: Bovine islets are less susceptible than human islets to the effects of human cytokines, which may be a potential advantage of xenotransplantation.
Titolo: | Bovine islets are less susceptible than human islets to damage by human cytokines | |
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Data di pubblicazione: | 2001 | |
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Handle: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11769/36411 | |
Appare nelle tipologie: | 1.1 Articolo in rivista |