Acinar to ß-like cell conversion through inhibition of focal adhesion kinase
Insufficient functional ß-cell mass causes diabetes; however, an effective cell replacement therapy for curing diabetes is currently not available. Reprogramming of acinar cells toward functional insulin-producing cells would offer an abundant and autologous source of insulin-producing cells. Our lineage tracing studies along with transcriptomic characterization demonstrate that treatment of adult mice with a small molecule that specifically inhibits kinase activity of focal adhesion kinase results in trans-differentiation of acinar cells into insulin producing ß-like cells. The acinar-derived insulin-producing cells infiltrate the pre-existing endocrine islets, partially restore ß-cell mass, and significantly improve glucose homeostasis in diabetic mice. Importantly, this treatment can substantially reduce the exogenous insulin requirements in streptozotocin-induced diabetic non-human primates. These findings provide evidence that inhibition of the kinase activity of focal adhesion kinase can convert acinar cells into insulin-producing cells and could offer a promising strategy for treating diabetes. Overall design: To better characterize these newly formed insulin-producing cells, we conducted single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis on islets isolated from wild type mice ten days after cessation of vehicle- or FAKi treatment. Approximately 8500 cells were sequenced at 225,000 reads per cell.