Inflammatory biomarkers in the blood and pancreatic tissue of organ donors that predict human islet isolation success and function

The pancreas of brain-dead donors is the primary source of islets for transplantation. However, brain death mediates systemic inflammation, which may affect the quantity and quality of isolated islets. Our aim was to identify inflammatory biomarkers in donor blood and/or pancreatic tissue capable of predicting islet isolation success. Blood samples were collected from 21 pancreas donors and 14 healthy volunteers. Pancreatic tissue samples were also collected from the corresponding donor during organ procurement. Six serum cytokines were measured by a fluorescent bead-based immunoassay, and the expression of fifteen inflammatory target genes was quantified by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). There was no correlation between serum inflammatory cytokines and mRNA expression of the corresponding genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or pancreatic tissue. The IL6 expression in pancreatic tissue correlated negatively with post-isolation islet yield. Islets isolated from donors highly expressing IFNG in PBMCs and MAC1 in pancreatic tissue functioned poorly in vivo when transplanted in diabetic NODscid mice. Furthermore, the increased MAC1 in pancreatic tissue was positively correlated with donor hospitalization time. Brain death duration positively correlated with higher expression of IL1B in PBMCs and TNF in both PBMCs and pancreatic tissue but failed to show a significant correlation with islet yield and in vivo function. The study indicates that the increased inflammatory genes in donor pancreatic tissues may be considered as biomarkers associated with poor islet isolation outcome.