REVIEW article
Front. Transplant.
Sec. Cell and Stem Cell Transplantation
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frtra.2025.1614849
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Future of Islet Transplantation: Beyond the BLAView all 4 articles
Long-term storage, cryopreservation, and culture of isolated human islets: a systematic review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
- 2Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
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Islet transplantation offers a potential curative treatment for patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). To make this therapy widely available, a stable supply chain of human islets is essential. Developing techniques like cryopreservation and culture for long-term islet storage, or islet banking, with minimal functional loss would strengthen this supply chain. This study provides a systematic review of the current methods for long-term human islet storage.A search strategy and query were developed according to the PICO framework. We included studies published on PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science from inception until August 2024.Results: 6,945 studies were screened with 47 meeting criteria for full text extraction. The primary outcomes recorded were measures of islet viability and glucose stimulated insulin secretion. Optimization of culture parameters such as temperature, medium selection, and scaffolds can extend islet viability and function.Discussion: Recent studies on human islet cryopreservation report promising results for long-term storage; however, the field remains underexplored. Several cytoprotective supplements with potential utility across both culture and cryopreservation conditions have also been reviewed. Although longterm islet storage has been a critical focus since the advent of the Edmonton protocol, the literature lacks the rigor needed to drive clinical translation. Notably, we observe substantial variability in experimental design and reported outcomes, which complicates meaningful comparison between interventions.
Keywords: Type 1 diabetes (T1D), Islet Transplantation, human islets, islet storage, Cryopreservation, Culture Techniques, Islet viability, glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS)
Received: 19 Apr 2025; Accepted: 04 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Burke, Chen and Chansky. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jacqueline Alexis Burke, Department of Biomedical Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
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