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Analysis of micro-RNA expression profiles in human islets and islet-derived exosomes during cytokine mediated β cell stress and death

ABSTRACT: Biomarkers capable of monitoring β cell stress during the evolution of type 1 diabetes (T1D) are currently lacking. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs ~22 nucleotides in length that modulate gene expression by binding to the 3’untranslated region of target mRNAs. Given their stability in biological fluids and enrichment in cell-derived EVs, we hypothesized that miRNAs from human islet and islet-derived EVs could identify β-cell stress/death and be leveraged in T1D biomarker strategies. To test this, human islets were obtained from 10 cadaveric donors (5 male/5 female) and treated with or without cytokines (IL-1β and IFN-γ) for 24 hrs, as an ex vivo model of T1D. Small RNA sequencing was performed and identified 1110 and 890 miRNAs in total and 20 and 14 differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs (fold change≥1.5 and p<0.05) from islets and EVs, respectively. These findings were validated in an independent set of cytokine-treated islets and islet-derived EVs (7M and 5F donors). Interestingly, miRNA expression pattern was strikingly different between male and female donors at baseline and under cytokine stress with < 10% overlap among the DE miRNAs. miR-155-5p and miR-146a-5p were the only two miRNAs that were upregulated in cytokine-treated islets and EVs in both the sexes. Functional enrichment analysis of DE miRNAs identified pathways such as insulin signaling, ER stress and apoptosis. Taken together, these data suggest that miRNA expression patterns change dynamically in both human islets and islet-derived EVs in response to pro-inflammatory cytokine stress. EV miRNAs were largely distinct from those in the islet fraction, suggesting that miRNAs are selectively packaged into EVs in response to extrinsic cues. Finally, these data highlight the importance of considering sex as a biological variable when defining T1D biomarkers.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE160391 | GEO | 2023/08/08

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Pancreatic islet transplantation as a cure for type 1 diabetes (T1D) cannot be scaled up due to a scarcity of human pancreas donors. In vitro expansion of beta cells from mature human pancreatic islets provides an alternative source of insulin-producing cells. The exact nature of the expanded cells produced by diverse expansion protocols, and their potential for differentiation into functional beta cells, remain elusive. We performed a large-scale meta-analysis of gene expression in human pancreatic islet cells, which were processed using three different previously described protocols for expansion and attempted re-differentiation. All three expansion protocols induced dramatic changes in the expression profiles of pancreatic islets; many of these changes are shared among the three protocols. Attempts at re-differentiation of expanded cells induce a limited number of gene expression changes. Nevertheless, these fail to restore a pancreatic islet-like gene expression pattern. Comparison with a collection of public microarray datasets confirmed that expanded cells are highly comparable to mesenchymal stem cells. Genes induced in expanded cells are also enriched for targets of transcription factors important for pluripotency induction. The present data increases our understanding of the active pathways in expanded and re-differentiated islets. Knowledge of the mesenchymal stem cell potential may help development of drug therapeutics to restore beta cell mass in T1D patients. Experiment Overall Design: In this study, we have tested three different protocols to expand human pancreatic islets in monolayer and after attempted maneuvers to re-differentiate the expanded cells back to islets. We have characterized the resulting cells in detail by performing microarray analyses with fresh pancreatic islets, expanded islet cells and re-differentiated cells. Genes modified by either of three protocols have 70 to 80% overlap with the genes changed by the other two protocols. Although there are promising changes in the right direction, none of the three protocols could achieve a return to a functional islet state. The expanded cells highly resemble Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC), and similar gene regulatory networks seem to be active in both cell types. On the other hand, the expanded islet cells are different from MSC in that they seem to retain activity of some islet gene modules. The current results highlight the importance of designing new strategies that take into account the MSC potential of expanded cells.

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Analysis of micro-RNA expression profiles in human islets and islet-derived exosomes during cytokine mediated β cell stress and death

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