scholarly journals Functional Genomics in Pancreatic β Cells: Recent Advances in Gene Deletion and Genome Editing Technologies for Diabetes Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Hu ◽  
Ines Cherkaoui ◽  
Shivani Misra ◽  
Guy A. Rutter
2016 ◽  
Vol 174 (5) ◽  
pp. R225-R238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonàs Juan-Mateu ◽  
Olatz Villate ◽  
Décio L Eizirik

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic autoimmune disease in which pancreatic β cells are killed by infiltrating immune cells and by cytokines released by these cells. This takes place in the context of a dysregulated dialogue between invading immune cells and target β cells, but the intracellular signals that decide β cell fate remain to be clarified. Alternative splicing (AS) is a complex post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism affecting gene expression. It regulates the inclusion/exclusion of exons into mature mRNAs, allowing individual genes to produce multiple protein isoforms that expand the proteome diversity. Functionally related transcript populations are co-ordinately spliced by master splicing factors, defining regulatory networks that allow cells to rapidly adapt their transcriptome in response to intra and extracellular cues. There is a growing interest in the role of AS in autoimmune diseases, but little is known regarding its role in T1D. In this review, we discuss recent findings suggesting that splicing events occurring in both immune and pancreatic β cells contribute to the pathogenesis of T1D. Splicing switches in T cells and in lymph node stromal cells are involved in the modulation of the immune response against β cells, while β cells exposed to pro-inflammatory cytokines activate complex splicing networks that modulate β cell viability, expression of neoantigens and susceptibility to immune-induced stress. Unveiling the role of AS in β cell functional loss and death will increase our understanding of T1D pathogenesis and may open new avenues for disease prevention and therapy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 708-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziyu Zhou ◽  
Xiaojie Ma ◽  
Saiyong Zhu

Abstract Diabetes mellitus is characterized by chronic high blood glucose levels resulted from deficiency and/or dysfunction of insulin-producing pancreatic β cells. Generation of large amounts of functional pancreatic β cells is critical for the study of pancreatic biology and treatment of diabetes. Recent advances in directed differentiation of pancreatic β-like cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) can provide patient-specific and disease-relevant target cells. With the improved differentiation protocols, it is now possible to generate large amounts of functional human pancreatic β-like cells that can response to high level of glucose both in vitro and in vivo. Combined with precise genomic editing, biomedical engineering, high throughput profiling, bioinformatics, and high throughput genetic and chemical screening, these hPSC-derived pancreatic β-like cells will hold great potentials in disease modeling, drug discovery, and cell-based therapies. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in human pancreatic β-like cells derived from hPSCs and discuss their potential applications.


1968 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars-Ake Idahl ◽  
Bo Hellman

ABSTRACT The combination of enzymatic cycling and fluorometry was used for measuring glucose and glucose-6-phosphate in pancreatic β-cells from obese-hyperglycaemic mice. The glucose level of the β-cells corresponded to that of serum over a wide concentration range. In the exocrine pancreas, on the other hand, a significant barrier to glucose diffusion across the cell membranes was demonstrated. During 5 min of ischaemia, the glucose level remained practically unchanged in the β-cells while it increased in the liver and decreased in the brain. The observation that the pancreatic β-cells are characterized by a relatively low ratio of glucose-6-phosphate to glucose may be attributed to the presence of a specific glucose-6-phosphatase.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ionel Sandovici ◽  
Constanze M. Hammerle ◽  
Sam Virtue ◽  
Yurena Vivas-Garcia ◽  
Adriana Izquierdo-Lahuerta ◽  
...  

AbstractWhen exposed to nutrient excess and insulin resistance, pancreatic β-cells undergo adaptive changes in order to maintain glucose homeostasis. The role that growth control genes, highly expressed in early pancreas development, might exert in programming β-cell plasticity in later life is a poorly studied area. The imprinted Igf2 (insulin-like growth factor 2) gene is highly transcribed during early life and has been identified in recent genome-wide association studies as a type 2 diabetes susceptibility gene in humans. Hence, here we investigate the long-term phenotypic metabolic consequences of conditional Igf2 deletion in pancreatic β-cells (Igf2βKO) in mice. We show that autocrine actions of IGF2 are not critical for β-cell development, or for the early post-natal wave of β-cell remodelling. Additionally, adult Igf2βKO mice maintain glucose homeostasis when fed a chow diet. However, pregnant Igf2βKO females become hyperglycemic and hyperinsulinemic, and their conceptuses exhibit hyperinsulinemia and placentomegalia. Insulin resistance induced by congenital leptin deficiency also renders Igf2βKO females more hyperglycaemic compared to leptin-deficient controls. Upon high-fat diet feeding, Igf2βKO females are less susceptible to develop insulin resistance. Based on these findings, we conclude that in female mice, autocrine actions of β-cell IGF2 during early development determine their adaptive capacity in adult life.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1059
Author(s):  
Bodo C. Melnik

Epidemiological studies associate milk consumption with an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). PD is an α-synucleinopathy associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, deficient lysosomal clearance of α-synuclein (α-syn) and aggregation of misfolded α-syn. In T2D, α-syn promotes co-aggregation with islet amyloid polypeptide in pancreatic β-cells. Prion-like vagal nerve-mediated propagation of exosomal α-syn from the gut to the brain and pancreatic islets apparently link both pathologies. Exosomes are critical transmitters of α-syn from cell to cell especially under conditions of compromised autophagy. This review provides translational evidence that milk exosomes (MEX) disturb α-syn homeostasis. MEX are taken up by intestinal epithelial cells and accumulate in the brain after oral administration to mice. The potential uptake of MEX miRNA-148a and miRNA-21 by enteroendocrine cells in the gut, dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra and pancreatic β-cells may enhance miRNA-148a/DNMT1-dependent overexpression of α-syn and impair miRNA-148a/PPARGC1A- and miRNA-21/LAMP2A-dependent autophagy driving both diseases. MiRNA-148a- and galactose-induced mitochondrial oxidative stress activate c-Abl-mediated aggregation of α-syn which is exported by exosome release. Via the vagal nerve and/or systemic exosomes, toxic α-syn may spread to dopaminergic neurons and pancreatic β-cells linking the pathogenesis of PD and T2D.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Li ◽  
Yujing Zhang ◽  
Yangyang Ye ◽  
Dameng Li ◽  
Yuchen Liu ◽  
...  

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