Conditional expression of Smad7 in pancreatic beta cells disrupts TGF-beta signaling and induces reversible diabetes mellitus.

ABSTRACT: Identification of signaling pathways that maintain and promote adult pancreatic islet functions will accelerate our understanding of organogenesis and improve strategies for treating diseases like diabetes mellitus. Previous work has implicated transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) signaling as an important regulator of pancreatic islet development, but has not established whether this signaling pathway is required for essential islet functions in the adult pancreas. Here we describe a conditional system for expressing Smad7, a potent inhibitor of TGF-beta signaling, to identify distinct roles for this pathway in adult and embryonic beta cells. Smad7 expression in Pdx1+ embryonic pancreas cells resulted in striking embryonic beta cell hypoplasia and neonatal lethality. Conditional exp

SUBMITTER: Smart NG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1351925 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature