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Nature Biotechnology 26, 397–398 (1 April 2008) | doi:10.1038/nbt0408-397

Toward a renewable source of pancreatic |[beta]|-cells

Camillo Ricordi & Helena Edlund

Patients with type 1 diabetes or severe forms of type 2 diabetes may greatly benefit from transplantation of pancreatic β-cells. Given the shortage of donor islets, human embryonic stem (hES) cells represent an attractive source of β-cells, but to be clinically useful stem cell–derived β-cells must be capable of secreting fully processed insulin in response to physiological concentrations of glucose.