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Physiology

Pancreatic β-cell heterogeneity revisited

Nature volume 535, pages 365–366 (2016)Cite this article

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Two analyses of insulin-producing β-cells reveal differences in what has long been considered a homogeneous population. These differences might reflect changes during maturation or ageing, or distinct cell lineages. See Letter p.430

Diabetes is associated with an inadequate supply of functional pancreatic β-cells, which normally maintain healthy blood-glucose levels by secreting insulin in response to raised levels and shutting off secretion when glucose is scarce. These cells have been regarded as a single, homogeneous population, even though studies have shown that β-cells are functionally immature in the neonatal period immediately after birth1,2, and that adult β-cells are not all identical3,4 . Now, two papers (Bader et al.5 on page 430 and Dorrell et al.6 in Nature Communications), identify genetic markers that allow subpopulations of β-cells to be isolated and studied. These studies are bound to revive interest in β-cell heterogeneity and highlight the relevance of this research area for understanding and enhancing cell-replacement therapies for diabetes.

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Figure 1: Separating β-cell subtypes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Susan Bonner-Weir and Cristina Aguayo-Mazzucato are in the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.,

    Susan Bonner-Weir & Cristina Aguayo-Mazzucato

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  1. Susan Bonner-Weir
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  2. Cristina Aguayo-Mazzucato
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Correspondence to Susan Bonner-Weir.

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Bonner-Weir, S., Aguayo-Mazzucato, C. Pancreatic β-cell heterogeneity revisited. Nature 535, 365–366 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18907

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