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Published online 24 January 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.525

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Cell regeneration brings hope for diabetics

Mice can regenerate insulin-producing cells.

Heidi Ledford

Some cells in the adult pancreas can, in times of extreme stress, produce new insulin-secreting cells, researchers have found.

The findings, based on work performed in mice, open up a new approach to replacing insulin-secreting cells in patients with diabetes.

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  • Does normal pancreas have any Lgr5 positive cells in normal condition (based on the data published from Dr. Hans Clevers group that Lgr5 might be a general stem cell marker)? And does the injured pancreas have any Lgr5 positive cells? Although I didn't find any publication indicating Lgr5 is expressed in pancreas cells, I am really curious if Lgr5 can stain pancreas stem cells based on the origin of pancreas and location that they injured (duct). Also, do we really need to induce beta cell regeneration from pancreas, or we can induce the regeneration from intestine since couple publications indicated the influence of enteroendocrine cells. In addition, can those enteroendocrine cells or progenitors of enteroendocrine cells can be engineered into insulin producing cells? Thank you very much. Jieru Egeria Lin PhD candidate Thomas Jefferson University

    • 25 Jan, 2008
    • Posted by: Jieru Egeria Lin