AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB025360368
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Bioprinting vascularized human islet tissue models via aggregate-based co-culture and self-assembly

Yijun Su1,2† Supeng Ding2,3† Tiankun Liu2 Yongyong Zhou2 Yinying Lu1,2 Feng Lin1 Mingen Xu4* Rui Yao1,2,5*
Show Less
1 Biomanufacturing and Rapid Forming Technology Key Laboratory of Beijing, Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
2 Human Organ Physiopathology Emulation System, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
3 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Institute for Nanobiotechnology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
4 Key Laboratory of Medical Information and 3D Bioprinting of Zhejiang, School of Automation, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
5 Beijing Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Beijing, China
†These authors contributed equally to this work.
Received: 6 September 2025 | Accepted: 2 October 2025 | Published online: 7 October 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Bioprinting and Stem Cells for Human Tissue Reconstruction)
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Diabetes is a significant global metabolic disease. Current treatments, including islet or pancreas transplantation and insulin therapy, are limited by donor shortages and suboptimal glycemic control. Islet organoids, three-dimensional (3D) cell aggregates that mimic pancreatic islets, offer a powerful tool for diabetes research, drug screening, and transplantation therapies. However, challenges remain in engineering methods for the scalable preparation of human islet organoids (hIOs) with homogeneous consistency and controllable incorporation of vascular elements. In this study, we developed a novel bioengineering approach for the stable production of human islet tissue models with vascular elements using a combination of 3D bioprinting-based organoid co-culture and cell self-assembly principles. Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells were differentiated into massive and uniform human islet β-like cell aggregates (hICAs) using an off-the-shelf polydimethylsiloxane user-defined micropatterning platform system. A tri-module thermal-controlled bioprinting process employing a gelatin–alginate– Matrigel bioink was used for the 3D bioprinting of hICAs and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Compared with bioprinted hICAs alone, co-bioprinted and co-cultured hICAs and HUVECs more effectively recapitulated the morphogenesis of human islet development, significantly upregulated the expression of pancreatic islet- and endothelial cell-related markers, and enhanced islet function, namely glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Thus, the self-assembly of hICAs and HUVECs to form hIOs with vascular elements mimics natural human pancreatic islets and may promote functional maturity. Our method provides a scalable platform for generating vascularized aggregation-based tissue models, supporting studies of pancreatic development and diabetes therapy.  

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Bioprinting
Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells
Human islet tissue models
Islet β-like cell aggregates
Funding
This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFA1104600; 2018YFA0109000).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
References
  1. Sun H, Saeedi P, Karuranga S, et al. IDF Diabetes Atlas: global, regional and country-level diabetes prevalence estimates for 2021 and projections for 2045. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2022;183:109119. doi: 10.1016/j.diabres.2021.109119
  2. Chhabra P, Brayman KL. Overcoming barriers in clinical islet transplantation: current limitations and future prospects. Curr Probl Surg. 2014;51(2):49-86. doi: 10.1067/j.cpsurg.2013.10.002
  3. Kim Y, Kim H, Ko UH, et al. Islet-like organoids derived from human pluripotent stem cells efficiently function in the glucose responsiveness in vitro and in vivo. Sci Rep. 2016;6:35145. doi: 10.1038/srep35145
  4. Liang S, Su Y, Yao R. 3D bioprinting of induced pluripotent stem cells and disease modeling. In: Kuehn MH, Zhu W, eds. Human iPSC-derived Disease Models for Drug Discovery. Handbook of experimental pharmacology. Springer, Cham. 2023; vol 281: 29-56. doi: 10.1007/164_2023_646
  5. Candiello J, Grandhi TSP, Goh SK, et al. 3D heterogeneous islet organoid generation from human embryonic stem cells using a novel engineered hydrogel platform. Biomaterials. 2018;177:27-39. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.05.031
  6. Liang S, Luo Y, Su Y, et al. Distinct toxicity of microplastics/ TBBPA co-exposure to bioprinted liver organoids derived from hiPSCs of healthy and patient donors. Int J Bioprint. 2024;10(3):1403. doi: 10.36922/ijb.1403
  7. de Klerk E, Hebrok M. Stem cell-based clinical trials for diabetes mellitus. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021;12:631463. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.631463
  8. Panes J, Garcia-Olmo D, Van Assche G, et al. Long-term efficacy and safety of stem cell therapy (Cx601) for complex perianal fistulas in patients with Crohn’s disease. Gastroenterology. 2018;154(5):1334-1342.e4. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2017.12.020
  9. Hong Y, Park EY, Kim D, Lee H, Jung HS, Jun HS. Glucosamine potentiates the differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells into glucose-responsive insulin-producing cells. Ann Transl Med. 2020;8(8):561. doi: 10.21037/atm.2020.03.103
  10. Dave SD, Vanikar AV, Trivedi HL. Extrinsic factors promoting in vitro differentiation of insulin-secreting cells from human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Appl Biochem Biotechnol. 2013;170(4):962-71. doi: 10.1007/s12010-013-0250-y
  11. Wang X, Luo Y, Ma Y, Wang P, Yao R. Converging bioprinting and organoids to better recapitulate the tumor microenvironment. Trends Biotechnol. 2024;42(5): 648-663. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2023.11.006
  12. Luo Y, Luo L, Wang L, et al. Large-scale bioprinting of human epiblast-like models featuring disc-shaped morphogenesis and gastrulation events. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025;12(33):e05340. doi: 10.1002/advs.202505340
  13. Marchioli G, van Gurp L, van Krieken PP, et al. Fabrication of three-dimensional bioplotted hydrogel scaffolds for islets of Langerhans transplantation. Biofabrication. 2015;7(2):025009. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/7/2/025009
  14. Song J, Millman JR. Economic 3D-printing approach for transplantation of human stem cell-derived beta-like cells. Biofabrication. 2016;9(1):015002. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/9/1/015002
  15. Hwang DG, Jo Y, Kim M, et al. A 3D bioprinted hybrid encapsulation system for delivery of human pluripotent stem cell-derived pancreatic islet-like aggregates. Biofabrication. 2021;14(1). doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/ac23ac
  16. Kim J, Shim IK, Hwang DG, et al. 3D cell printing of islet-laden pancreatic tissue-derived extracellular matrix bioink constructs for enhancing pancreatic functions. J Mater Chem B. 2019;7(10):1773-1781. doi: 10.1039/c8tb02787k
  17. Idaszek J, Volpi M, Paradiso A, et al. Alginate-based tissue-specific bioinks for multi-material 3D-bioprinting of pancreatic islets and blood vessels: a step towards vascularized pancreas grafts. Bioprinting. 2021;24:e00163. doi: 10.1016/j.bprint.2021.e00163
  18. Yao R, Wang J, Li X, et al. Hepatic differentiation of human embryonic stem cells as microscaled multilayered colonies leading to enhanced homogeneity and maturation. Small. 2014;10(21):4311-4323. doi: 10.1002/smll.201401040
  19. Costa EC, de Melo-Diogo D, Moreira AF, Carvalho MP, Correia IJ. Spheroids formation on non-adhesive surfaces by liquid overlay technique: considerations and practical approaches. Biotechnol J. 2018;13(1). doi: 10.1002/biot.201700417
  20. Ansari A, Trehan R, Watson C, Senyo S. Increasing silicone mold longevity: a review of surface modification techniques for PDMS-PDMS double casting. Soft Mater. 2021; 19(4):388-399. doi: 10.1080/1539445x.2020.1850476
  21. Clark CT, Wang Y, Johnson DC, Lee SC, Smith Q. Effects of PDMS culture on stem cell differentiation towards definitive endoderm and hepatocytes. Acta Biomater. 2025; 200:508-519. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2025.05.017
  22. Anitha R, Vaikkath D, Shenoy SJ, Nair PD. Tissue-engineered islet-like cell clusters generated from adipose tissue-derived stem cells on three-dimensional electrospun scaffolds can reverse diabetes in an experimental rat model and the role of porosity of scaffolds on cluster differentiation. J Biomed Mater Res A. 2020;108(3):749-759. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.36854
  23. Nyitray CE, Chavez MG, Desai TA. Compliant 3D microenvironment improves β-cell cluster insulin expression through mechanosensing and β-catenin signaling. Tissue Eng Part A. 2014;20(13-14):1888-1895. doi: 10.1089/ten.tea.2013.0692
  24. Tran R, Moraes C, Hoesli CA. Developmentally-inspired biomimetic culture models to produce functional islet-like cells from pluripotent precursors. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020;8:583970. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.583970
  25. Ding S, Feng L, Wu J, Zhu F, Tan Z, Yao R. Bioprinting of stem cells: interplay of bioprinting process, bioinks, and stem cell properties. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2018; 4(9):3108-3124. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.8b00399
  26. Chen R, Su Y, Chen D, et al. Bioprinting with superelastic and fatigue-resistant bioinks for large-sized tissue delivery. Int J Bioprint. 2024;10(5):3898. doi: 10.36922/ijb.3898
  27. Cahn F. Biomaterials aspects of porous microcarriers for animal cell culture. Trends Biotechnol. 1990;8(5):131-136. doi: 10.1016/0167-7799(90)90154-P
  28. Ouyang L, Yao R, Mao S, Chen X, Na J, Sun W. Three-dimensional bioprinting of embryonic stem cells directs highly uniform embryoid body formation. Biofabrication. 2015;7(4):044101. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/7/4/044101
  29. Yao R, Zhang R, Luan J, Lin F. Alginate and alginate/ gelatin microspheres for human adipose-derived stem cell encapsulation and differentiation. Biofabrication. 2012;4(2):025007. doi: 10.1088/1758-5082/4/2/025007
  30. Townsend SE, Gannon M. Extracellular matrix-associated factors play critical roles in regulating pancreatic beta-cell proliferation and survival. Endocrinology. 2019; 160(8):1885-1894. doi: 10.1210/en.2019-00206
  31. Parvaneh S, Kemeny L, Ghaffarinia A, Yarani R, Vereb Z. Three-dimensional bioprinting of functional beta-islet-like constructs. Int J Bioprint. 2023;9(2):665. doi: 10.18063/ijb.v9i2.665
  32. Wex C, Frohlich M, Brandstadter K, Bruns C, Stoll A. Experimental analysis of the mechanical behavior of the viscoelastic porcine pancreas and preliminary case study on the human pancreas. J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2015;41:199-207. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2014.10.013
  33. Aplin AC, Aghazadeh Y, Mohn OG, Hull-Meichle RL. Role of the pancreatic islet microvasculature in health and disease. J Histochem Cytochem. 2024;72(11-12):711-728. doi: 10.1369/00221554241299862
  34. Lammert E, Cleaver O, Melton D. Induction of pancreatic differentiation by signals from blood vessels. Science. 2001;294(5542):564-567. doi: 10.1126/science.1064344 .
  35. Wang X, Ye K. Three-dimensional differentiation of embryonic stem cells into islet-like insulin-producing clusters. Tissue Eng Part A. 2009;15(8):1941-1952. doi: 10.1089/ten.tea.2008.0181
  36. Aghazadeh Y, Poon F, Sarangi F, et al. Microvessels support engraftment and functionality of human islets and hESC-derived pancreatic progenitors in diabetes models. Cell Stem Cell. 2021;28(11):1936-1949.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2021.08.001
  37. Jaramillo M, Mathew S, Mamiya H, Goh SK, Banerjee I. Endothelial cells mediate islet-specific maturation of human embryonic stem cell-derived pancreatic progenitor cells. Tissue Eng Part A. 2015;21(1-2):14-25. doi: 10.1089/ten.tea.2014.0013
  38. Zanone MM, Favaro E, Camussi G. From endothelial to beta cells: insights into pancreatic islet microendothelium. Curr Diabetes Rev. 2008;4(1):1-9. doi: 10.2174/157339908783502415
  39. Glorieux L, Sapala A, Willnow D, et al. Development of a 3D atlas of the embryonic pancreas for topological and quantitative analysis of heterologous cell interactions. Development. 2022;149(3):dev199655. doi: 10.1242/dev.199655
  40. Ranjan AK, Joglekar MV, Hardikar AA. Endothelial cells in pancreatic islet development and function. Islets. 2009;1(1):2-9. doi: 10.4161/isl.1.1.9054
  41. Mateus Goncalves L, Almaca J. Functional characterization of the human islet microvasculature using living pancreas slices. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2020;11:602519. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2020.602519
  42. Velazco-Cruz L, Song J, Maxwell KG, et al. Acquisition of dynamic function in human stem cell-derived beta cells. Stem Cell Rep. 2019;12(2):351-365. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2018.12.012
  43. Velazco-Cruz L, Goedegebuure MM, Maxwell KG, Augsornworawat P, Hogrebe NJ, Millman JR. SIX2 regulates human beta cell differentiation from stem cells and functional maturation in vitro. Cell Rep. 2020; 31(8):107687. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107687
  44. Cardenas-Diaz FL, Osorio-Quintero C, Diaz-Miranda MA, et al. Modeling monogenic diabetes using human ESCs reveals developmental and metabolic deficiencies caused by mutations in HNF1A. Cell Stem Cell. 2019;25(2):273-289.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2019.07.007

 

 

 

 

Share
Back to top
International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing