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Single cell transcriptomics defines human islet cell signatures and reveals cell-type-specific expression changes in type 2 diabetes [single cell]

ABSTRACT: Blood glucose levels are tightly controlled by the coordinated action of at least five cell types constituting pancreatic islets. Changes in the proportion and/or function of these cells are associated with genetic and molecular pathophysiology of monogenic, type 1, and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Cellular heterogeneity impedes precise understanding of the molecular components of each islet cell type that govern islet dysfunction, particularly the less abundant delta and gamma/pancreatic polypeptide (PP) cells. Here, we report single cell transcriptomes for 617 islet cells after profiling ~1000 cells from non-diabetic (ND) and T2D human organ donors. Analyses of non-diabetic single cell transcriptomes identified distinct alpha, beta, delta, and PP/gamma cell-type signatures. Genes linked to rare and common forms of islet dysfunction and diabetes were expressed in the delta and PP/gamma cell types. Moreover, this study revealed that delta cells specifically express receptors that receive and coordinate systemic cues from the leptin, ghrelin, and dopamine signaling pathways implicating them as integrators of central and peripheral metabolic signals into the pancreatic islet. Finally, single cell transcriptome profiling revealed genes differentially regulated between T2D and ND alpha, beta, and delta cells that were undetectable in paired whole islet analyses. This study thus identifies fundamental cell type-specific features of pancreatic islet (dys)function and provides a critical resource for comprehensive understanding of islet biology and diabetes pathogenesis. Grant ID: Award No. W81XWH-16-1-0130 Grant title: Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program Funding Source: Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Affiliation: Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT Name: Michael Stitzel

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE86469 | GEO | 2016/11/09

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA342006

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Pancreatic islet (dys)function is central to glucose homeostasis and type 2 diabetes (patho)physiology. Human islets consist of multiple endocrine (alpha, beta, delta, gamma), endothelial, and resident/inflitrating immune cells whose coordinated functions modulate glucose mobilization or disposal. Single cell transcriptome profiling (scRNA-seq) studies have been applied to dissect human islet cellular heterogeneity, identify islet cell (sub)populations, and define their molecular repertoire. However, precise understanding of cell type-specific alterations in type 2 diabetic vs. non-diabetic individuals is lacking, due in part to the limited number of individuals or single cell transcriptomes per individual profiled for comparison. Here, we create a comprehensive single cell transcriptome atlas of 245,878 human islet cells from 48 individuals spanning non-diabetic (ND), pre-diabetic (PD), and type 2 diabetic (T2D) states and matched for sex, age, and ancestry and define marker gene sets that are robustly expressed across disease states for each of the 14 cell types identified. We observe significant decreases in the number of beta cells sampled from T2D vs. ND or PD donors. Two of eight putative beta cell subpopulations, with ‘high functioning’ and ‘senescent’ cell gene signatures, increase and decrease in T2D donor islets, respectively. Importantly, we identify 511 differentially expressed genes in beta cells from T2D vs. ND donors. This includes monogenic and type 2 diabetes effector genes, such as HNF1A, DGKB, ST6GAL1, and FXYD2, for which genetic and environmental effects on their expression is concordant. Human beta cell and islet knockdown of selected newly-identified down-regulated genes impairs beta cell viability or function. Together, this study provides new and robust, cell type-resolved insights on the cellular and molecular changes in healthy vs. diabetic human islets and represents a valuable resource to the islet biology and type 2 diabetes communities.

Project description:Recent advances in the understanding of the genetics of type 2 diabetes (T2D) susceptibility have focused attention on the regulation of transcriptional activity within the pancreatic beta-cell. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent an important component of regulatory control, and have proven roles in the development of human disease and control of glucose homeostasis. We set out to establish the miRNA profile of human pancreatic islets and of enriched beta-cell populations, and to explore their potential involvement in T2D susceptibility. We used Illumina small RNA sequencing to profile the miRNA fraction in three preparations each of primary human islets and of enriched beta-cells generated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. In total, 366 miRNAs were found to be expressed (i.e. >100 cumulative reads) in islets and 346 in beta-cells; of the total of 384 unique miRNAs, 328 were shared. A comparison of the islet-cell miRNA profile with those of 15 other human tissues identified 40 miRNAs predominantly expressed (i.e. >50% of all reads seen across the tissues) in islets. Several highly-expressed islet miRNAs, such as miR-375, have established roles in the regulation of islet function, but others (e.g. miR-27b-3p, miR-192-5p) have not previously been described in the context of islet biology. As a first step towards exploring the role of islet-expressed miRNAs and their predicted mRNA targets in T2D pathogenesis, we looked at published T2D association signals across these sites. We found evidence that predicted mRNA targets of islet-expressed miRNAs were globally enriched for signals of T2D association (p-values <0.01, q-values <0.1). At six loci with genome-wide evidence for T2D association (AP3S2, KCNK16, NOTCH2, SCL30A8, VPS26A, and WFS1) predicted mRNA target sites for islet-expressed miRNAs overlapped potentially causal variants. In conclusion, we have described the miRNA profile of human islets and beta-cells and provide evidence linking islet miRNAs to T2D pathogenesis. Examination of the miRNA profiles in 3 preparations of isolated pancreatic islets and 3 preparations of FACS-enriched pancreatic beta-cells

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Single cell transcriptomics defines human islet cell signatures and reveals cell-type-specific expression changes in type 2 diabetes [single cell]

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