Pancreatic islet neogenesis

Transplantation of pancreatic islet-like cells and beta cells is a promising approach for treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Milanesi and colleagues used a series of epigenetic manipulations to differentiate nestin-positive stem cells (nestin is a marker of a precursor stem cell) from rat bone marrow into pancreatic cell phenotypes in vitro. The cells expressed insulin and glucose transport 2 and, importantly, secreted the hormone in a glucose-responsive manner. This is an exciting novel cellular system for both potential therapeutic application and aiding further study in the field of neogenesis. Milanesi et al. (2011) Journal of Endocrinology 209 193–201.

Read the full article at DOI:10.1530/JOE-10-0344.