Macrophages heterogeneity and significance during human fetal pancreatic development

Organogenesis is a complex process that relies on a dynamic interplay between extrinsic factors originating from the microenvironment and intrinsic factors specific to the tissue. For the endocrine cells of the islet of Langerhans, the local microenvironment consists of various cell types including pancreatic acinar and ductal cells as well as neuronal, immune, endothelial, and stromal cells. Interestingly, hematopoietic cells have been detected in human pancreas as early as 6 post-conception weeks (PCW)1,2, but whether they play a role during islet formation in humans remains largely unknown. To shed light on this question, we performed single nuclei RNA sequencing of the human fetal pancreas during the early weeks of the second trimester, specifically focusing on the molecular interaction between the hematopoietic niche and the pancreatic epithelium. Our analysis identified a wide range of hematopoietic cells as well as two distinct subsets of macrophages that are unique to the fetal pancreas and absent in neonatal or adult pancreatic tissues. Leveraging this discovery, we developed a co-culture system of hESC-derived endocrine-macrophage organoids to model their interaction in vitro. Remarkably, we found that macrophages promoted the differentiation and viability of developing endocrine cells in vitro and enhanced tissue engraftment in immunocompromised mice, supporting a role for these cells in future tissue engineering strategies for diabetes.