title: Evaluation of insulin expression and secretion in genetically engineered gut K and L-cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gene therapy could provide an effective treatment of diabetes. Previous studies have investigated the potential for several cell and tissue types to produce mature and active insulin. Gut K and L-cells could be potential candidate hosts for gene therapy because of their special features.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, we isolated gut K and L-cells to compare the potential of both cell types to produce insulin when exposed to similar conditions. The isolated pure K and L-cells were transfected with recombinant plasmids encoding insulin and with specific promoters for K or L-cells. Insulin expression was studied in response to glucose or meat hydrolysate. We found that glucose and meat hydrolysate efficiently induced insulin secretion from K and L-cells. However, the effects of meat hydrolysate on insulin secretion were more potent in both cells compared with glucose. Results of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays showed that L-cells secreted more insulin compared with K-cells regardless of the stimulator, although this difference was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The responses of K and L-cells to stimulation with glucose or meat hydrolysate were generally comparable. Therefore, both K and L-cells show similar potential to be used as surrogate cells for insulin gene expression in vitro. The potential use of these cells for diabetic gene therapy warrants further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor 43400, Malaysia. zalinah@medic.upm.edu.my
authors.forename: Zalinah
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rasouli
authors.forename: Ahmad Zaid Fattah
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: Azman
authors.forename: Abdul Rahman
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Omar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002469:Cell Separation; D015870:Gene Expression; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D007328:Insulin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000078790:Insulin Secretion; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D007422:Intestines / Q000166:cytology*; D007739:L Cells; D051379:Mice
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D005947:Glucose