A 3D culture platform enables development of zinc-binding prodrugs for targeted proliferation of β cells.

Sci Adv
Authors
Abstract

Advances in treating β cell loss include islet replacement therapies or increasing cell proliferation rate in type 1 and type 2 diabetes, respectively. We propose developing multiple proliferation-inducing prodrugs that target high concentration of zinc ions in β cells. Unfortunately, typical two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures do not mimic in vivo conditions, displaying a markedly lowered zinc content, while 3D culture systems are laborious and expensive. Therefore, we developed the Disque Platform (DP)-a high-fidelity culture system where stem cell-derived β cells are reaggregated into thin, 3D discs within 2D 96-well plates. We validated the DP against standard 2D and 3D cultures and interrogated our zinc-activated prodrugs, which release their cargo upon zinc chelation-so preferentially in β cells. Through developing a reliable screening platform that bridges the advantages of 2D and 3D culture systems, we identified an effective hit that exhibits 2.4-fold increase in β cell proliferation compared to harmine.

Year of Publication
2020
Journal
Sci Adv
Volume
6
Issue
47
Date Published
2020 Nov
ISSN
2375-2548
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.abc3207
PubMed ID
33208361
PubMed Central ID
PMC7673808
Links
Grant list
R01 DK113597 / DK / NIDDK NIH HHS / United States
UC4 DK104165 / DK / NIDDK NIH HHS / United States
UC4 DK116255 / DK / NIDDK NIH HHS / United States