Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Jan 9;27(1):57-67.
doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.08.007. Epub 2017 Sep 7.

Pancreatic β Cell Regeneration as a Possible Therapy for Diabetes

Cristina Aguayo-Mazzucato  1 , Susan Bonner-Weir  2
Affiliations
Review

Pancreatic β Cell Regeneration as a Possible Therapy for Diabetes

Cristina Aguayo-Mazzucato et al. Cell Metab. .

Abstract

Diabetes is the result of having inadequate supply of functional insulin-producing β cells. Two possible approaches for replenishing the β cells are: (1) replacement by transplanting cadaveric islets or β cells derived from human embryonic stem cells/induced pluripotent stem cells and (2) induction of endogenous regeneration. This review focuses on endogenous regeneration, which can follow two pathways: enhanced replication of existing β cells and formation of new β cells from cells not expressing insulin, either by conversion from a differentiated cell type (transdifferentiation) or differentiation from progenitors (neogenesis). Exciting progress on both pathways suggest that regeneration may have therapeutic promise.

Keywords: diabetes; neogenesis; pancreatic beta cells; replication; transdifferentiation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No conflicts of interest relevant to this article are reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cell sources within the pancreas that have been shown to differentiate into β-cells. The strategies used to induce this transdifferentiation are indicated within the arrows. For a complete description of these approaches refer to the text.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ackermann Misfeldt A, Costa RH, Gannon M. Beta-cell proliferation, but not neogenesis, following 60% partial pancreatectomy is impaired in the absence of FoxM1. Diabetes. 2008;57:3069–3077. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al-Hasani K, Pfeifer A, Courtney M, Ben-Othman N, Gjernes E, Vieira A, Druelle N, Avolio F, Ravassard P, Leuckx G, et al. Adult duct-lining cells can reprogram into beta-like cells able to counter repeated cycles of toxin-induced diabetes. Dev Cell. 2013;26:86–100. - PubMed
    1. Annes JP, Ryu JH, Lam K, Carolan PJ, Utz K, Hollister-Lock J, Arvanites AC, Rubin LL, Weir G, Melton DA. Adenosine kinase inhibition selectively promotes rodent and porcine islet beta-cell replication. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2012;109:3915–3920. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baeyens L, Bonne S, Bos T, Rooman I, Peleman C, Lahoutte T, German M, Heimberg H, Bouwens L. Notch signaling as gatekeeper of rat acinar-to-beta-cell conversion in vitro. Gastroenterology. 2009;136:1750–1760. - PubMed
    1. Baeyens L, De Breuck S, Lardon J, Mfopou JK, Rooman I, Bouwens L. In vitro generation of insulin-producing beta cells from adult exocrine pancreatic cells. Diabetologia. 2005;48:49–57. - PubMed

Publication types

-