Replication confers β cell immaturity.

ABSTRACT: Pancreatic β cells are highly specialized to regulate systemic glucose levels by secreting insulin. In adults, increase in β-cell mass is limited due to brakes on cell replication. In contrast, proliferation is robust in neonatal β cells that are functionally immature as defined by a lower set point for glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Here we show that β-cell proliferation and immaturity are linked by tuning expression of physiologically relevant, non-oncogenic levels of c-Myc. Adult β cells induced to replicate adopt gene expression and metabolic profiles resembling those of immature neonatal β that proliferate readily. We directly demonstrate that priming insulin-producing cells to enter the cell cycle promotes a functionally immature phenotype. We suggest that there exists a balan

SUBMITTER: Puri S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5797102 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature