Trophoblast-mediated tolerance in Type 1 Diabetes Autoimmunity
Biomedical Engineering
Carlos Escandon
Abstract
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic autoimmune disease in which CD45 immune cells destroy the insulin-secreting beta cells of the pancreatic islets, leading to loss of glucose homeostasis. This project investigates whether mated female NOD mice have delayed T1D and also if subcutaneously transplanted JAR placental trophoblast cells, encapsulated in alginate hydrogel spirals, can delay or prevent T1D onset in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice by secreting immune-modulatory factors that suppress autoimmune activity.
Pancreatic tissue from transplanted, mated, and sham control groups was processed via immunohistochemistry and imaged at 20x magnification to qualitatively assess differences in insulin production and leukocyte infiltration across groups.