Acute exposure to streptozotocin but not human proinflammatory cytokines impairs neonatal porcine islet insulin secretion in vitro but not in vivo.

Background: Neonatal porcine islets (NPI) are a potentially useful source of beta cells for transplantation to treat type 1 diabetes mellitus. However, cytokine exposure following xenotransplantation is likely to prevent successful NPI xenograft survival. In this study, we examined the effects of human proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1 beta, IFN gamma, TNFalpha) on NPI function and cell death.