Cost and Scalability Analysis of Porcine Islet Isolation for Islet Transplantation: Comparison of Juvenile, Neonatal and Adult Pigs

Abstract

The limited availability of human islets has led to the examination of porcine islets as a source of clinically suitable tissue for transplantation in patients with diabetes mellitus. Islets from porcine donors are commonly used in both in vitro and in vivo experiments studying diabetes mellitus. However, there are significant differences in quality and quantity of islet yield depending on donor pig age, as well as substantial differences in the costs of pancreas procurement in adult versus neonatal and juvenile pigs. In this study, we compared the total cost per islet of juvenile pig pancreata with that of neonatal and adult pigs. Although adult porcine pancreata yield, on average, more than five times the amount of islets than do juvenile and neonatal pancreata, we found that the high price of adult pigs led to the cost per islet being more than twice that of juvenile and neonatal islets (US $0.09 vs $0.04 and $0.02, respectively). In addition, neonatal and juvenile islets are advantageous in their scalability and retention of viability after culture. Our findings indicate that isolating neonatal and juvenile porcine islets is more cost-effective and scalable than isolating adult porcine islets.

Optimization of Nano-encapsulation on Neonatal Porcine Islet-like Cell Clusters Using Polymersomes

“…Especially, the NPCCs have been used valuably as good as the APIs. Although the maturity of NPCCs is lower than that of APIs, NPCCs have some advantages over APIs including, having a relatively simple and inexpensive islet isolation procedure, ability to develop resistance to hypoxic environments and proliferation in vivo after transplantation [1][2][3]. For these reasons, we used 3-5-day-old neonatal pigs as the islet source in this study.…”

“…Often, neonatal porcine islet-like cell clusters (NPCCs) are preferred over adult porcine islets (APIs) owing to their affordability and ease of isolation. In addition, NPCCs can proliferate gradually after transplantation, prolonging their function in vivo [ 1 , 2 ]. However, when NPCCs are transplanted into human or non-human primate (NHP) portal veins, interspecies variations can cause immune reactions such as instant blood-mediated inflammatory reaction (IBMIR) or hyperacute rejection, leading to early graft loss [ 3 ].…”

Dose-dependent effects of necrostatin-1 supplementation to tissue culture media of young porcine islets

“…Despite proven benefits, the stringent criteria for donor selection and scarcity of donor pancreata have prevented the widespread clinical application of islet allotransplantation [9]. In contrast, the use of young porcine islets for clinical islet xenotransplantation could not only offer a cost-effective and scalable alternative, but has also been shown to lessen the need for exogenous insulin administration, heighten hypoglycemic awareness, and reduce HbA1C levels in multiple clinical trials [12,14,39,40]. Nevertheless, the prolonged culture period required for the functional maturation of young porcine islets is associated with a substantial islet loss [16,19].…”

“…Another advantage involves the structural resemblance of insulin in pigs and humans with a variation of only one amino acid [12,13]. Young porcine islets isolated from either neonatal or pre-weaned juvenile porcine pancreata have shown potential in terms of cost-effectiveness and functionality [14,15]. Despite these advantages, young porcine islets require prolonged culture to reach optimal maturation before transplantation [16].…”

Optimization of nano-encapsulation on neonatal porcine islet-like cell clusters using polymersomes

“…Often, neonatal porcine islet-like cell clusters (NPCCs) are preferred over adult porcine islets (APIs) owing to their affordability and ease of isolation. In addition, NPCCs can proliferate gradually after transplantation, prolonging their function in vivo [1,2].. However, when NPCCs are transplanted into human or non-human primate (NHP) portal veins, interspecies variations can cause immune reactions such as instant blood-mediated in ammatory reaction (IBMIR) or hyperacute rejection, leading to early graft loss [3].…”