Critical roles for macrophages in islet angiogenesis and maintenance during pancreatic degeneration.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Chronic pancreatitis, characterized by pancreatic exocrine tissue destruction with initial maintenance of islets, eventually leads to insulin-dependent diabetes in most patients. Mice deficient for the transcription factors E2F1 and E2F2 suffer from a chronic pancreatitis-like syndrome and become diabetic. Surprisingly, onset of diabetes can be prevented through bone marrow transplantation. The goal of the described studies was to determine the hematopoietic cell type responsible for maintaining islets and the associated mechanism of this protection.

Research design and methods

Mouse models of acute and chronic pancreatitis, together with mice genetically deficient for macrophage production, were used to determine roles for macrophages in islet angiogenesis and mai

SUBMITTER: Tessem JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2575065 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature