Diabetes Remission Using Glucose-Responsive Insulin-Producing Human α-Cells
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE117454 | GEO | 2018/12/13
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Natural and stable cell identity switches, where terminally-differentiated cells convert into different cell-types when stressed, represent a widespread regenerative strategy in animals, yet they are poorly documented in mammals. In mice, some glucagon-producing pancreatic α-cells become insulin expressers upon ablation of insulin-secreting β-cells, promoting diabetes recovery. Whether human islets also display this plasticity for reconstituting β-like cells, especially in diabetic conditions, remains unknown. Here we show that two different islet non-β-cell types, α- and γ–cells, obtained from deceased non-diabetic or diabetic human donors can be lineage-traced and induced to produce insulin and secrete it in response to glucose. When transplanted into diabetic mice, converted human α-cells reverse diabetes and remain producing insulin even after 6 months. Insulin-producing α-cells maintain α-cell markers, as seen by deep transcriptomic and proteomic characterization, and display hypo-immunogenic features when exposed to T-cells derived from diabetic patients. These observations provide conceptual evidence and a molecular framework for a mechanistic understanding of in situ cell plasticity in islet cells, as well as in other organs, as a therapy for degenerative diseases by fostering the highly-regulated intrinsic cell regeneration.
2018-12-15 | GSE123844 | GEO
Project description:β cell proliferation rates decline with age and adult β cells have limited self-duplicating activity for regeneration, which predisposes to diabetes. Here we show that, among MYC family members, Mycl was expressed preferentially in proliferating immature endocrine cells. Genetic ablation of Mycl caused a modest reduction in cell proliferation of pancreatic endocrine cells in neonatal mice. By contrast, systemic expression of Mycl in mice stimulated proliferation in pancreatic islet cells and resulted in expansion of pancreatic islets without forming tumors in other organs. Single-cell RNA sequencing and genetic tracing experiments revealed that the expression of Mycl provoked transcription signatures associated with immature proliferating endocrine cells and stimulated self-duplication in adult hormone-expressing cells. The expanded hormone-expressing cells ceased proliferation but persisted after withdrawal of Mycl expression. Remarkably, a subset of the expanded α cells gave rise to insulin-producing cells after the withdrawal. Moreover, transient Mycl expression in vivo was sufficient to normalize increased blood glucose levels in diabetic mice evoked by chemical ablation of β cells. In vitro expression of Mycl similarly provoked active replication without inducing apoptosis in adult hormone-expressing islet cells, even those from aged mice. Furthermore, the expanded islet cells functioned in diabetic mice after transplantation. Finally, we show that MYCL stimulated self-duplication of human adult cadaveric islet cells. Collectively, these results demonstrate that sole induction of Mycl expands adult β cells both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, islet cell-specific reprogramming via transient Mycl transduction elicits endogenous expansion of insulin-producing cells in adult pancreas through both self-duplication of β cells and transdifferentiation ofα cells into insulin-producing cells, which may provide a regenerative strategy of β cells.
2022-01-29 | GSE178726 | GEO
Project description:β cell proliferation rates decline with age and adult β cells have limited self-duplicating activity for regeneration, which predisposes to diabetes. Here we show that, among MYC family members, Mycl was expressed preferentially in proliferating immature endocrine cells. Genetic ablation of Mycl caused a modest reduction in cell proliferation of pancreatic endocrine cells in neonatal mice. By contrast, systemic expression of Mycl in mice stimulated proliferation in pancreatic islet cells and resulted in expansion of pancreatic islets without forming tumors in other organs. Single-cell RNA sequencing and genetic tracing experiments revealed that the expression of Mycl provoked transcription signatures associated with immature proliferating endocrine cells and stimulated self-duplication in adult hormone-expressing cells. The expanded hormone-expressing cells ceased proliferation but persisted after withdrawal of Mycl expression. Remarkably, a subset of the expanded α cells gave rise to insulin-producing cells after the withdrawal. Moreover, transient Mycl expression in vivo was sufficient to normalize increased blood glucose levels in diabetic mice evoked by chemical ablation of β cells. In vitro expression of Mycl similarly provoked active replication without inducing apoptosis in adult hormone-expressing islet cells, even those from aged mice. Furthermore, the expanded islet cells functioned in diabetic mice after transplantation. Finally, we show that MYCL stimulated self-duplication of human adult cadaveric islet cells. Collectively, these results demonstrate that sole induction of Mycl expands adult β cells both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, islet cell-specific reprogramming via transient Mycl transduction elicits endogenous expansion of insulin-producing cells in adult pancreas through both self-duplication of β cells and transdifferentiation ofα cells into insulin-producing cells, which may provide a regenerative strategy of β cells.
2022-01-29 | GSE163947 | GEO
Project description:After their destruction in adult mice, insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells slowly regenerate from other islet cells, like glucagon-producing alpha-cells. However the molecular basis of this conversion is unknown. Moreover it remains unclear if this intra-islet cell conversion is relevant to human diseases with extensive beta-cell loss, like in type 1 diabetes (T1D). Here, we show that subsets of glucagon-expressing cells in subjects with T1D produce Insulin and other molecular features of beta-cells, accompanied by loss of the alpha-cell regulators DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) and Aristaless-related homeobox (Arx). We generated mice permitting lineage tracing and inactivation of Dnmt1 and Arx in adult alpha-cells. Within 3 months of Dnmt1 and Arx loss, 50% of alpha-cells converted into cells producing insulin protein but not glucagon, changes not observed in alpha-cells after only Arx or Dnmt1 loss. Single cell isolation and high-throughput RNA sequencing revealed efficient and extensive alpha-cell conversion into progeny indistinguishable by global gene expression from native beta-cells. Our work reveals pathways regulated by Arx and Dnmt1 sufficient for achieving targeted generation of beta-cells from adult pancreatic alpha-cells.
2017-02-16 | GSE79457 | GEO
Project description:Generation of mature cells with stable functional identities is crucial for developing cell-based replacement therapies. Current global efforts to produce insulin-secreting beta-like cells to treat diabetes are hampered by the lack of tools to reliably assess cellular identity. We conducted a thorough single-cell transcriptomics meta-analysis to generate robust genesets defining the identity of human adult alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-cells. After extensive validation, we showed the efficacy of the novel genesets to define changes in islet cell identity, whether during embryonic development or in different experimental setups aimed at developing new functional glucose-responsive insulin-secreting cells, such as through pluripotent stem-cell differentiation or islet cell reprogramming protocols. Finally, we evaluated whether the perturbed metabolic conditions typical of diabetes influence islet cell identity. We observed that alpha-cells from diabetic donors exhibit an altered phenotype. In conclusion, these novel genesets represent valuable tools that robustly benchmark gain and loss in islet cell identity traits.
2021-06-26 | GSE150724 | GEO
Project description:Insufficient functional β-cell mass causes diabetes; however, an effective cell replacement therapy for curing diabetes is currently not available. Reprogramming of acinar cells toward functional insulin-producing cells would offer an abundant and autologous source of insulin-producing cells. Our lineage tracing studies along with transcriptomic characterization demonstrate that treatment of adult mice with a small molecule that specifically inhibits kinase activity of focal adhesion kinase results in trans-differentiation of acinar cells into insulin producing β-like cells. The acinar-derived insulin-producing cells infiltrate the pre-existing endocrine islets, partially restore β-cell mass, and significantly improve glucose homeostasis in diabetic mice. Importantly, this treatment can substantially reduce the exogenous insulin requirements in streptozotocin-induced diabetic non-human primates. These findings provide evidence that inhibition of the kinase activity of focal adhesion kinase can convert acinar cells into insulin-producing cells and could offer a promising strategy for treating diabetes.
2024-03-12 | GSE251852 | GEO
Project description:The generation of insulin-producing pancreatic cells from stem cells in vitro would provide an unprecedented cell source for drug discovery and cell transplantation therapy in diabetes. However, insulin-producing cells previously generated from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) lack many functional characteristics of bona fide β cells. Here we report a scalable differentiation protocol that can generate hundreds of millions of glucose-responsive β cells from hPSC in vitro. These stem cell derived cells (SC) express markers found in mature β cells, flux Ca2+ in response to glucose, package insulin into secretory granules and secrete quantities of insulin comparable to adult β cells in response to multiple sequential glucose challenges in vitro. Furthermore, these cells secrete human insulin into the serum of mice shortly after transplantation in a glucose-regulated manner, and transplantation of these cells ameliorates hyperglycemia in diabetic mice. Differentiated cells were sorted and processed for RNA isolation using the MARIS protocol published previously (PMID: 24516164.) Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line HUES8 was differentiated into SC-beta cells. Two biological replicates were analyzed. Those data were normalized together with and compared to existing, previously published data from Hrvatin et al. ( (PMID: 24516164) from human islet -derived insulin+ cells, undifferentiated HUES8 hES cells, and insulin+ cells derived from HUES8 cells according to previously published protocols.
2014-09-25 | E-GEOD-61714 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:537 million people globally suffer from diabetes. Insulin-producing beta cells are reduced in number in most people with diabetes, but the majority still have some residual beta cells. Disappointingly, none of the many diabetes drugs in common use can increase human beta cell numbers. Recently, small molecules that inhibit the kinase, Dual Tyrosine-Regulated Kinase 1A (DYRK1A), have been shown to induce immunohistochemical markers of human beta cell replication, and this is enhanced by drugs that stimulate the GLP1 receptor (GLP1R) on beta cells. However, it remains to be demonstrated whether these immunohistochemical findings translate into an actual increase in human beta cell numbers in vivo. It is also unknown whether DYRK1A inhibitors together with GLP1R agonists (GLP1RAs) affect human beta cell survival. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that combination of a DYRK1A inhibitor with exendin-4 increases actual human beta cell mass in vivo by 400-700% in diabetic and non-diabetic mice over three months, reverses diabetes in vivo, without significant alteration in human alpha cell mass. The augmentation in human beta cell mass occurs through mechanisms that include enhanced human beta cell proliferation, function, and survival. The increase in human beta cell survival is mediated in part by the islet prohormone, VGF. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the remarkable therapeutic potential and safety profile of the DYRK1A inhibitor-GLP1RA combination for diabetes treatment.
2024-06-28 | GSE249310 | GEO
Project description:Insulin resistance is necessary but not sufficient for the development of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes results when pancreatic beta-cells fail to compensate for insulin resistance by increasing insulin production through an expansion of beta-cell mass or increased insulin secretion. Communication between insulin target tissues and beta-cells may initiate this compensatory response. Correlated changes in gene expression between tissues can provide evidence for such intercellular communication. We profiled gene expression in six tissues of mice from an obesity-induced diabetes-resistant and a diabetes-susceptible strain before and after the onset of diabetes. We studied the correlation structure of mRNA abundance and identified 105 co-expression gene modules. We provide an interactive gene network model showing the correlation structure between the expression modules within and among the six tissues. This resource also provides a searchable database of gene expression profiles for all genes in six tissues in lean and obese diabetes-resistant and diabetes-susceptible mice, at 4 and 10 weeks of age. A cell cycle regulatory module in islets predicts diabetes susceptibility. The module predicts islet replication; we found a strong correlation between ^2 H_2 O incorporation into islet DNA /in vivo/ and the expression pattern of the cell cycle module. This pattern is highly correlated with that of several individual genes in insulin target tissues, including IGF2, which has been shown to promote beta-cell proliferation, suggesting that these genes may provide a link between insulin resistance and beta-cell proliferation. Keywords: time course, mouse strain comparison, effect of obesity, Type 2 diabetes is a disorder that involves an increased demand for insulin brought about by insulin resistance, together with a failure to compensate with sufficient insulin production. Although Insulin resistance occurs in most obese individuals, diabetes is generally forestalled through compensation with increased insulin. This increase in insulin occurs through an expansion of beta-cell mass and/or increased insulin secretion by individual beta-cells. Failure to compensate for insulin resistance leads to type 2 diabetes. One way to understand the pathophysiology of diabetes is to examine the coordinate changes in gene expression that occur in insulin-responsive tissues and pancreatic islets in obese animals that either compensate for insulin resistance or progress to type 2 diabetes. In each case, there are groups of genes that undergo changes in expression in a highly correlated fashion. By identifying groups of correlated transcripts (gene expression modules) during the compensation and development of diabetes, we can gain insight into potential pathways and regulatory networks in obesity-induced diabetes. We study two strains of mice that differ in obesity-induced diabetes susceptibility. In this study, we surveyed gene expression in six tissues of lean and obese C57BL/6 (B6) and BTBR mice aged 4 wks and 10 wks. B6 mice remain essentially non-diabetic at all ages, irrespective of obesity. When obese, BTBR mice become severely diabetic by 10 weeks of age. By analyzing the correlation structure of the genes under three contrast conditions, obesity, strain, and age, we identified gene expression modules associated with the onset of diabetes and provide an interactive co-expression network model of type 2 diabetes. We found a key module that is comprised of cell cycle regulatory genes. In the islet, the expression profile of these transcripts accurately predicts diabetes and is highly correlated with islet cell proliferation.
2008-03-14 | E-GEOD-10785 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Insulin-secreting β cells and glucagon-secreting α cells maintain physiological blood glucose levels, and their malfunction drives diabetes development. Using ChIP sequencing and RNA sequencing analysis, we determined the epigenetic and transcriptional landscape of human pancreatic α, β, and exocrine cells. We found that, compared with exocrine and β cells, differentiated α cells exhibited many more genes bivalently marked by the activating H3K4me3 and repressing H3K27me3 histone modifications. This was particularly true for β cell signature genes involved in transcriptional regulation. Remarkably, thousands of these genes were in a monovalent state in β cells, carrying only the activating or repressing mark. Our epigenomic findings suggested that α to β cell reprogramming could be promoted by manipulating the histone methylation signature of human pancreatic islets. Indeed, we show that treatment of cultured pancreatic islets with a histone methyltransferase inhibitor leads to colocalization of both glucagon and insulin and glucagon and insulin promoter factor 1 (PDX1) in human islets and colocalization of both glucagon and insulin in mouse islets. Thus, mammalian pancreatic islet cells display cell-type–specific epigenomic plasticity, suggesting that epigenomic manipulation could provide a path to cell reprogramming and novel cell replacement-based therapies for diabetes. Pancreatic islets were collected post-mortem from 6 human donors and subjected to FACS to separate populations of alpha, beta, and exocrine cells. Depending on the availability of resulting material, sorted islet cell populations were used for H3K4me3, H3K27me3 ChIP-seq, or RNA-seq analysis. All ChIP-seq samples have a corresponding input from the same sample.
2013-08-28 | E-GEOD-50386 | biostudies-arrayexpress