Theranostic magnetic resonance imaging of type 1 diabetes and pancreatic islet transplantation

[摘要] Type 1 diabetes mellitus results in impaired insulin production by pancreatic islets due toautoimmunity. Islet transplantation has recently emerged as a promising treatment for this disease. Tovisualize and monitor endogenous and transplanted islets, non-invasive strategies are currently beingdeveloped. These include strategies for in vivo magnetic resonance imaging of microvascular changes duringdiabetes development, tracking the recruitment of diabetogenic T cells to the pancreas, and imaging ofendogenous and transplanted islet mass. The combination of MR imaging agents with therapy is a novelstate-of-the-art theranostic approach that has a tremendous potential for type 1 diabetes management.Though still in its infancy, theranostic MR imaging has shown certain encouraging progress. Here weprovide an overview of the latest accomplishments in this area as it applies to changes in islet vasculatureduring diabetes development, monitoring autoimmune attack mediated by T cells, and imaging oftransplanted islets. Future challenges and opportunities in the area of theranostic MRI are discussed as well.

[学科分类] 外科医学