β-cell regeneration: the pancreatic intrinsic faculty.
Type I diabetes (T1D) patients rely on cumbersome chronic injections of insulin, making the development of alternate durable treatments a priority. The ability of the pancreas to generate new β-cells has been described in experimental diabetes models and, importantly, in infants with T1D. Here we discuss recent advances in identifying the origin of new β-cells after pancreatic injury, with and without inflammation, revealing a surprising degree of cell plasticity in the mature pancreas. In particular, the inducible selective near-total destruction of β-cells in healthy adult mice uncovers the intrinsic capacity of differentiated pancreatic cells to spontaneously reprogram to produce insulin. This opens new therapeutic possibilities because it implies that β-cells can differentiate endogenously, in depleted adults, from heterologous origins.
Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism, University of Geneva Faculty of Medicine, 1 rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
Renaud
R
Desgraz
Claire
C
Bonal
Pedro L
PL
Herrera
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D010179:Pancreas / Q000166:cytology*; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology