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Review
. 2018 Jan 9;27(1):57-67.
doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.08.007. Epub 2017 Sep 7.

Pancreatic β Cell Regeneration as a Possible Therapy for Diabetes

Cristina Aguayo-Mazzucato  1 , Susan Bonner-Weir  2
Affiliations
Review

Pancreatic β Cell Regeneration as a Possible Therapy for Diabetes

Cristina Aguayo-Mazzucato et al. Cell Metab. .

Abstract

Diabetes is the result of having inadequate supply of functional insulin-producing β cells. Two possible approaches for replenishing the β cells are: (1) replacement by transplanting cadaveric islets or β cells derived from human embryonic stem cells/induced pluripotent stem cells and (2) induction of endogenous regeneration. This review focuses on endogenous regeneration, which can follow two pathways: enhanced replication of existing β cells and formation of new β cells from cells not expressing insulin, either by conversion from a differentiated cell type (transdifferentiation) or differentiation from progenitors (neogenesis). Exciting progress on both pathways suggest that regeneration may have therapeutic promise.

Keywords: diabetes; neogenesis; pancreatic beta cells; replication; transdifferentiation.

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Conflict of interest statement

No conflicts of interest relevant to this article are reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cell sources within the pancreas that have been shown to differentiate into β-cells. The strategies used to induce this transdifferentiation are indicated within the arrows. For a complete description of these approaches refer to the text.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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