• Porteur IEMN du projet : Amar ABDERRAHMANI
  
• Coordinateur : IEMN
  
• Partenaires : LISM, IPHC, CBM
  

Context:

Visualizing beta cells and quantifying their number by MRI an unmet medical need!

– Beta cells are the predominant cell type of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans, which are composed of 5 different types
– Beta cells produce insulin, the only hormone that lower glycemia
– Loss of beta cell mass (BCM) mainly caused by cell death causes type 1 diabetes (only 10 to 50% BCM remaining at disease diagnosis). In type 2 diabetes beta cell function deteriorates but a progressive decline of BCM 30 to 50% in long term disease ensues over
years.

Objectives:

To engineer a disruptive nanoparticle based Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) platform specifically targeting beta cells

– For a relative accurate quantification of the number of beta cells in normal islets (the number will be compared to this determined by the immunohistochemistry method, the gold standard quantification of BCM)
– For a sensitive quantification of the number of beta cells when they slightly increase or decrease in diabetes

Thus, the NANOMIC project aims at creating an innovative nanobody targeted NANOplatform delivering manganese contrast agents for MRI visualization of pancreatic Islet beta Cells.