Bioartificial pancreas for the treatment of diabetes

Recent advances in islet transplantation using highly purified islets and effective immunosuppression strategies have resulted in substantial improvement in achieving insulin independence in type I diabetes patients. However, there are side effects from long-term immunosuppression, and transplant rejection and/or the recurrence of autoimmune attack of the transplanted islets cannot be completely prevented, even with immunosuppressive treatment. Therefore, construction of a safe and functional bioartificial pancreas (BAP) that provides an adequate environment for islet cells may be an important approach to treat diabetic patients. Various types of BAP devices have been developed and examined in animals. In this review, I introduce the previous BAP studies and our approach of BAP development.