Effect of polyethylene glycol grafted onto islet capsules on prevention of splenocyte and cytokine attacks

In the graft rejection of transplanted islets, the host's immune cells recognize the islets as antigens, which then stimulate the immune cells to begin the cytokine secretion and also the proliferation of immune cells. To prevent the recognition of islets by the immune cells, we grafted biocompatible polyethylene glycol (PEG) onto the collagen capsule of islets without incurring any changes in the morphology and function of islets. To evaluate the efficiency of PEG grafting, PEG-grafted islets were cultured with splenocytes consisting mainly of lymphocytes and macrophages. A splenocyte proliferation assessment using a BrdU incorporation assay showed that the PEG-grafted islets did not stimulate the splenocytes. In addition, the viability and microorganisms in islet cells of co-cultured PEG-grafted islets were not altered. However, in the co-culture of free islets (control) splenocytes were stimulated; they mainly secreted TNF-alpha and strongly affected the viability and structure of free islets. Furthermore, when islets were treated with the rat recombinant TNF-a for 7 days, the viabilities of PEG-grafted and free islets were significantly damaged, although the viability of PEG-grafted islets was higher than that of free islets by nearly three times. These results demonstrate that PEG grafted on the surface of islets could prevent the recognition of islets by splenocytes, but could not completely protect islets from cytokines.