Macrophage overgrowth affects neighboring nonovergrown encapsulated islets1

Background Encapsulation significantly prolongs islet graft survival in the absence of immunosuppression. However, encapsulated islet graft survival is limited to periods of several months. Part of the encapsulated islet graft is affected by a nonprogressive pericapsular overgrowth. To investigate whether macrophages on overgrown capsules affect neighboring nonovergrown encapsulated islets, encapsulated islets were studied during coculture....