SIX2 and SIX3 coordinately regulate functional maturity and fate of human pancreatic β cells.

ABSTRACT: The physiological functions of many vital tissues and organs continue to mature after birth, but the genetic mechanisms governing this postnatal maturation remain an unsolved mystery. Human pancreatic β cells produce and secrete insulin in response to physiological cues like glucose, and these hallmark functions improve in the years after birth. This coincides with expression of the transcription factors SIX2 and SIX3, whose functions in native human β cells remain unknown. Here, we show that shRNA-mediated SIX2 or SIX3 suppression in human pancreatic adult islets impairs insulin secretion. However, transcriptome studies revealed that SIX2 and SIX3 regulate distinct targets. Loss of SIX2 markedly impaired expression of genes governing β-cell insulin proce

SUBMITTER: Bevacqua RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7849364 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature