Recoding human islet cells can relieve diabetes in mice

paper published online in the journal Nature reports that human islet cells can be α recoded γ to produce insulin. Typically, only islet β cells can produce insulin. After the modified cells were implanted into the mice with diabetes, the diabetes symptoms in the mice were alleviated.
cells are converted to different cell types after being excited is a widely used regeneration strategy in animals, but is rarely recorded in mammals. In mice, if the islet cells that secrete insulin β destroyed, the non-sterined cells β the islet can produce insulin. It is not clear whether human islet cells exhibit the same plasticity.
Herrera of the University of Geneva in Switzerland and colleagues studied whether human islet α and γ cells from diabetic and non-diabetic feeders can be recoded to produce insulin in response to glucose. The authors report that adding the expression of two key transcription factors (Pdx1 and MafA) enables cells to produce insulin , the first direct evidence of the plasticity of human islet non β cells.
, the researchers tested whether these insulin-producing human α cells could alleviate the clinical symptoms of type I diabetes mice that lack islet β cells. After transplanting insulin-producing α cells from multiple feeds into mice, the mice's glucose tolerance, secretion, and blood levels normalized. After the transplant, the cells continue to secrete insulin for up to 6 months.
these findings provide conceptual evidence of the plasticity of human islet cells. Cultivating this plasticity to replace missing cell populations may represent a potential treatment for diabetes and other degenerative diseases. (Source: Tang Erdu, China Science Daily)