Project description:We have observed an improvement of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion upon the formation of pseudoislets. Transcriptome analyses of islets and pseudoislets from the same human donor were performed to determine the functional improvement. We identified 38844 transcripts and revealed that unlike islets, pseudoislets were deprived of exocrine and endothelial cells. In addition, the mRNA levels of proteins related to apoptosis and inflammation as well as the components of extracellular matrix were less abundant in pseudoislets.
Project description:We have studied the impact of T2D on open chromatin in human pancreatic islets. We used assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) to profile open chromatin in islets from T2D and non-diabetic donors. We identified ATAC-seq peaks representing open chromatin regions in islets of non-diabetic and diabetic donors. The majority of ATAC-seq peaks mapped near transcription start sites. Additionally, peaks were enriched in enhancer regions and in regions where islet-specific TFs bind. Islet ATAC-seq peaks overlap with SNPs associated with T2D and with additional SNPs in LD with known T2D SNPs. There was enrichment of open chromatin regions near highly expressed genes in human islets.
Project description:In this study, we achieved integrated transcriptomic and proteomic profiles of GK islets in a time-course fashion at different stages of T2D. Subsequent bioinformatics analysis revealed the chronological order of T2D-related molecular events during the deterioration of pancreatic islets. Our large quantitative dataset provide a valuable resource to obtain a comprehensive picture of the mechanisms responsible for islet dysfunction and to identify potential interventions to prevent beta-cell failure in human T2D.
Project description:Pancreatic islets are central in type 2-diabetes development, which coincides with increased activity of innate immunity. Intriguingly, human pancreatic islets express many complement genes. The most highly expressed gene was the complement inhibitor CD59 that is GPI anchored to the cell membrane, which unexpectedly was found in high amounts intracellularly in beta cells. Silencing of CD59 strongly suppressed insulin secretion. Importantly, this suppression was unrelated to established CD59 functions, but rather depletion of intracellular CD59. Imaging experiments identified a distal site of inhibition in the exocytotic pathway, but prior to emptying of the insulin granules. Proximity Ligation Assays pin-pointed the mechanism to impaired turnover of exocytosis-regulating SNARE-proteins and CD59 was detected in complex with VAMP2 and syntaxin. CD59 was downregulated by 24-h glucose incubations in human islets, rat cell lines and in islets from three rodent diabetes models. Islets from cadaver donors were provided by the Nordic Islet Transplantation Programme (www.nordicislets.org), Uppsala University. The microarrays were performed using GeneChipM-BM-. Human Gene 1.0 ST whole transcript according to Affymetrix standard protocol.
Project description:Recent advances in the understanding of the genetics of type 2 diabetes (T2D) susceptibility have focused attention on the regulation of transcriptional activity within the pancreatic beta-cell. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent an important component of regulatory control, and have proven roles in the development of human disease and control of glucose homeostasis. We set out to establish the miRNA profile of human pancreatic islets and of enriched beta-cell populations, and to explore their potential involvement in T2D susceptibility. We used Illumina small RNA sequencing to profile the miRNA fraction in three preparations each of primary human islets and of enriched beta-cells generated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. In total, 366 miRNAs were found to be expressed (i.e. >100 cumulative reads) in islets and 346 in beta-cells; of the total of 384 unique miRNAs, 328 were shared. A comparison of the islet-cell miRNA profile with those of 15 other human tissues identified 40 miRNAs predominantly expressed (i.e. >50% of all reads seen across the tissues) in islets. Several highly-expressed islet miRNAs, such as miR-375, have established roles in the regulation of islet function, but others (e.g. miR-27b-3p, miR-192-5p) have not previously been described in the context of islet biology. As a first step towards exploring the role of islet-expressed miRNAs and their predicted mRNA targets in T2D pathogenesis, we looked at published T2D association signals across these sites. We found evidence that predicted mRNA targets of islet-expressed miRNAs were globally enriched for signals of T2D association (p-values <0.01, q-values <0.1). At six loci with genome-wide evidence for T2D association (AP3S2, KCNK16, NOTCH2, SCL30A8, VPS26A, and WFS1) predicted mRNA target sites for islet-expressed miRNAs overlapped potentially causal variants. In conclusion, we have described the miRNA profile of human islets and beta-cells and provide evidence linking islet miRNAs to T2D pathogenesis. Examination of the miRNA profiles in 3 preparations of isolated pancreatic islets and 3 preparations of FACS-enriched pancreatic beta-cells