Purified Murine Islet Allografts: Islet Engraftment as Influenced by Implantation Site and Glucotoxicity (original) (raw)

1998, Transplantation Proceedings

A UNIQUE and natural approach to immunoisolation of islet grafts was explored by investigating different immunoprivileged sites of the body: the brain, 1,2 the testis, 3,4 and the renal subcapsular space. 5,6 For the intraabdominally placed testis, immunologic privilege has been, undoubtfully, demonstrated 3,4 and attributed to locally produced factors that inhibit the immune response. 7-9 However, the clinical inapplicability and the possible malignant transformation of the germ cells stand as major drawbacks of grafting the islets in such an unconventional organ site. The data about renal subcapsular space are contradictory. Whereas some investigators reported failure of islet allografts to function and survive in the renal subcapsular space, 3,7 others 5,6 demonstrated a remarkable success of islet allografting in this place. We investigated the engraftment, survival, and metabolic function of murine islet allografts when placed in two organ sites, the intraabdominally placed testis and the renal subcapsular space, without immunosuppression.