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Nature Medicine 10, 1297 - 1298 (2004)
doi:10.1038/nm1204-1297

Micromanaging insulin secretion

Craig C Mello1 & Michael P Czech1

  1. Craig C. Mello is at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Program in Molecular Medicine, and Michael P. Czech is in the Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA. e-mail: michael.czech@umassmed.edu


The human genome is peppered with genes for small microRNAs, whose functions are only beginning to come to light. One such microRNA is now implicated in the secretion of insulin from pancreatic beta cells.


Biological pathways critical to survival often rely on layers of fail-safe mechanisms. One such pathway is the secretion of insulin from pancreatic beta cells—failure to secrete insulin is lethal, and death by injection of insulin is a theme of fictional and real-life murder mysteries.

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