title: Pancreas development in humans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We highlight some of the major recent advances in characterizing human pancreas development and endocrine cell differentiation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Extensive research efforts have helped to define crucial events in the mouse pancreas organogenesis. Information gained from these studies was used to develop human embryonic stem cell (hESC) differentiation protocols with the goal of generating functional glucose-responsive, insulin-producing human β-cells. In spite of remarkable progress in hESC differentiation, current protocols based on mouse developmental biology can produce human β-cells only in vivo. New differentiation markers and recently generated reagents may provide an unprecedented opportunity to develop a high-density expression map of human fetal pancreas and pancreatic islets that could serve as a reference point for in vitro hESC differentiation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Integrating an increased knowledge of human pancreas development into hESC differentiation protocols has the potential to greatly advance our ability to generate functional insulin-producing cells for β-cell replacement therapy.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Cell and Developmental Biology and Vanderbilt University Program in Developmental Biology bDivision of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Fong Cheng
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brissova
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D004703:Endocrine System / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D038081:Organogenesis; D010179:Pancreas / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D005947:Glucose