Introduction to a new cell transplantation platform via recombinant peptide petaloid pieces and its application to islet transplantation with mesenchymal stem cells

Cell death cluster in transplanted cells remains a critical obstacle for regeneration strategies. This study describes a novel platform for cell transplantation (CellSaic) consisting of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and petaloid pieces of recombinant peptide (RCP), which can prevent cell death by arranging the cells in a mosaic. When hMSC CellSaics were subcutaneously implanted into NOD/SCID mice, hMSC CellSaics prevented cell death and accelerated angiogenesis in the graft, compared to the findings obtained on solely implanting cell spheroids. Additionally, we examined the application of CellSaic for subcutaneous cotransplantation of 200 rat islets with 2 x 10(5) hMSCs into diabetic mice. As the results of blood glucose levels at 1 M, the islet-only group was 398 +/- 30 mg/dl and the islets with hMSCs group were 180 +/- 65 mg/dl. On the other hand, the islets with hMSCs CellSaic group showed 129 +/- 15 mg/dl and significantly improved glucose tolerance (P < 0.05). Additionally, we showed that the surface texture of the RCP petaloid pieces played an important role in graft survival and angiogenesis. It is anticipated that CellSaic will be used as a new platform for cell transplantation and tissue regeneration.