Pancreas articles from across Nature Portfolio

Glucagon plays a key role in regulating blood glucose levels. Here, Liu et al. show that

activation of α-cell Gs signaling promotes the release of glucagon from pancreatic islets and ensures the synthesis of sufficient amounts of glucagon.

Mutations in the Hedgehog signaling have not been previously associated to diabetes. Here, authors identify a missense variant of GLI2 in a family with early-onset diabetes and report an essential role of this gene during human iPSC-based pancreatic differentiation.

Using several orthogonal loss-of-function approaches, Huang et al. provide a detailed assessment of the quantitative contribution of δ cell paracrine signalling to the glycaemic set point in mice.

Pancreatic cancer is a notoriously lethal condition characterised by aggressive malignancy and dismal outcomes. However, translational advances are showing us that hope is on the horizon.

Exhaustion of pancreatic beta cells in the face of prolonged insulin resistance results in the development of type II diabetes. Ansarullah et al. now describe an inhibitor of beta-cell insulin signalling that, on removal, increases beta-cell mass and improves beta-cell function, with potential as a new way to address beta-cell failure.