An international research team has identified the process by which pancreatic progenitor cells give rise to different endocrine cell types.
This work, published March 6, 2007 in the journal Developmental Cell, sheds new light on the mechanism by which insulin-producing beta cells are generated in the pancreas, and may open the door to new treatment avenues for type 1 diabetes.
The pancreas plays a critical role in our ability to convert food into fuel. Type 1 diabetes is a chronic (lifelong) disease in which beta cells in the pancreas lose their ability to produce the amounts of insulin needed to control blood sugar levels. Those afflicted suffer reduced quality of life and risk life-threatening complications from the disease. This form of diabetes usually strikes children and young adults, although disease onset can occur at any age. Type 1 diabetes accounts for 5 percent to 10 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes and has no cure. Insulin injections provide treatment, but their effectiveness is limited.
One possible avenue for treatment would be to restore the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. But relatively little is known about how the body produces these cells during development and how the cells are regenerated in adults. Scientists do know that all pancreatic endocrine cells, including insulin-producing beta cells, arise from a single line of "progenitor cells" that express the gene Neurogenin 3.