Lorenzo Piemonti – VJRegenMed

The role of regenerative medicine in treating diabetes

Simon Ng — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 18:07:22 +0000

Lorenzo Piemonti, MD, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy, discusses the importance of advanced therapies in treating Type 1 diabetes. Cell therapies have the potential to reverse the loss of insulin-producing β cells and Prof. Piemonti highlights the advantages of utilizing regenerative medicine in the field. The efficacy of treatments can be effectively measured with well-established biomarkers, and β cells are not required to be in a specific part of the body to be producing insulin. Islet transplantation has additionally proven that cell therapies is a viable treatment for diabetes. This interview took place at the 6th World Congress of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS 2021).

Bio-engineering vascularized islet organs for T1D

Simon Ng — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 18:07:14 +0000

Lorenzo Piemonti, MD, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy, describes advancements in the field of β cell replacement in Type 1 diabetes. Translation of β cells from an in vitro to in vivo environment has been a major hurdle, due to the loss of cell mass during engraftment and immunogenicity. Ex vivo vascularized islet organs (VIOs) aims to overcome these issues, and consist of an engraftable decellularized lung scaffold containing endocrine cells. This interview took place at the 6th World Congress of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS 2021).

Challenges in β cell replacement therapy

Simon Ng — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 12:22:20 +0000

Lorenzo Piemonti, MD, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy, addresses limitations in developing β cell replacement therapy for Type 1 diabetes. Whilst clinical trials assessing induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived therapies have shown clinical benefit, there are major hurdles that need to be overcome. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, so the use of both allogeneic and autologous cell therapies will induce a host immune response. Bioinvisible materials can surpass the need for immunosuppressive drugs by enabling the cells to evade the immune system. This interview took place at the 6th World Congress of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS 2021).