Immune Biomarkers of Islet Transplant Rejection Revealed by Synthetic Immunological Niche

Abstract

Islet transplantation can restore glycemic control in type 1 diabetes, yet the heterogeneity of patient immune responses and transplant outcomes motivates the need for technologies to monitor the graft. Since transplanted islets are not readily accessible for biopsy due to their diffuse engraftment within the liver, clinical monitoring relies on measurements such as islet mass, blood glucose, and C-peptide levels, which are lagging indicators that change only after substantial graft injury. Here, we developed a minimally invasive synthetic immunological niche (IN) that captures graft-associated immune responses through serial subcutaneous biopsy. We evaluated the IN across murine syngeneic, allogeneic, and autoimmune islet transplant models, including CD40/CD154 costimulatory blockade with anti-CD40L. In syngeneic versus allogeneic recipients, IN identified immune populations and transcriptomic signatures that mirrored the graft and distinguished healthy from rejecting grafts. In anti-CD40L treated allografts, IN revealed innate macrophage- and dendritic cell-associated programs linked to graft acceptance versus rejection, whereas IN from untreated allografts showed stronger adaptive immune signatures. Longitudinal IN profiling further detected progressive inflammatory activation in accepted allografts, indicating persistent subclinical risk. Finally, in an autoimmune allograft model treated with anti-CD40L plus rapamycin, IN identified a 13-gene signature that separated early from late rejection trajectories and distinguished autoimmune-from alloimmune-associated rejection programs. Overall, these findings establish IN as a surrogate tissue for minimally invasive monitoring of islet graft and early detection of rejection-associated immune dysregulation. One Sentence SummaryAn engineered immunological niche captures distinct immune signatures of allo- and auto-mediated islet transplant rejection