糖尿病,胰岛细胞 z-bo 2020-11-21 311

　　A paper reported that human alpha and gamma islet cells can be recoded to produce insulin. Normally, only pancreatic beta cells can produce insulin. After the modified cells were implanted in diabetic mice, the diabetic symptoms of the mice were relieved.

　　The transformation of cells into different cell types after being stimulated is a regenerative strategy that exists widely in animals, but it is rarely recorded in mammals. In mice, if the pancreatic islet β cells that secrete insulin are destroyed, the non-β cells in the pancreatic islets can produce insulin. It is not yet clear whether human islet cells can exhibit the same plasticity.

　　Pedro Herrera of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and colleagues studied whether human islet alpha and gamma cells from diabetic and non-diabetic donors can be recoded to produce insulin in response to glucose. The authors report that increasing the expression of two key transcription factors (Pdx1 and MafA) enables cells to produce insulin-the first direct evidence of the plasticity of mature human islet non-β cells.

　　After

　　, the researchers tested whether these insulin-producing human α cells can alleviate the clinical symptoms of type 1 diabetic mice lacking pancreatic β cells. After transplanting insulin-producing α cells from multiple donors into mice, the mice's glucose tolerance, secretion, and blood levels were normalized. After transplantation, the cells continue to secrete insulin for up to 6 months.

　　These findings provide conceptual evidence for the plasticity of human islet cells. Cultivating this plasticity to replace the missing cell population may represent a potential treatment for diabetes and other degenerative diseases.