Patent ID: 8278106

Claim:
A method for producing insulin in vivo in a mammal, said method comprising: (a) providing an in vitro human pancreatic and duodenal homeobox gene 1 (PDX1)-positive pancreatic progenitor cell population into an implantable semi-permeable device, wherein the semi-permeable device comprises a first seal at a peripheral edge of the semi-permeable device, thereby forming at least one chamber for encapsulating living cells, and at least a second seal which effectively reduces the volume of the encapsulating chamber; (b) implanting the device containing the progenitor cell population into a mammalian host; and (c) maturing the progenitor cell population in said device in vivo such that there is no cell-to-cell contact between the progenitor cell within the device and the host cell in the mammal and the resulting cell population comprises endocrine and acinar cells, wherein at least some of the endocrine cells are insulin secreting cells that produce insulin in response to glucose stimulation in vivo, thereby producing insulin in vivo to the mammal.