Project description:Islet transplantation for treatment of diabetes is limited by availability of donor islets and requirements for immunosuppression. Stem cell-derived islets might circumvent these issues. SC-islets effectively control glucose metabolism post transplantation, but do not yet achieve full function in vitro with currently published differentiation protocols. We aimed to identify markers of mature subpopulations of SC-β cells by studying transcriptional changes associated with in vivo maturation of SC-β cells using RNA-seq and co-expression network analysis. The β cell-specific hormone islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) emerged as the top candidate to be such a marker. IAPP+ cells had more mature β cell gene expression and higher cellular insulin content than IAPP- cells in vitro. IAPP+ INS+ cells were more stable in long-term culture than IAPP- INS+ cells and retained insulin expression after transplantation into mice. Finally, we conducted a small molecule screen to identify compounds that enhance IAPP expression. Aconitine up-regulated IAPP and could help to optimize differentiation protocols.
Project description:Stem cell-derived β (SC-β) cells are an emerging regenerative therapy to compensate for loss of functional β cell mass in diabetes. Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in SC-β cells is variable in vitro but stabilizes after transplantation and maturation under the kidney capsule of mice. We identified mechanisms correlated with functional maturation using RNA-sequencing and co-expression network analysis. In vivo maturation enhanced glucose-stimulated but not basal insulin secretion, up-regulated β cell hormones IAPP and ADCYAP1, increased expression of maturation markers MAFA, UCN3, and SIX2, and resolved endocrine identity of incompletely specified polyhormonal cells produced during differentiation. Transplantation promoted calcium signalling, induced exocytotic machinery supporting hormone secretion and improved stimulus-secretion coupling that fine-tunes insulin secretion. Growth hormone signalling emerged as candidate driver of in vivo maturation and was confirmed in vitro. Also, a large co-expression module correlated with HbA1c and was enriched in genes up-regulated during in vivo maturation but down-regulated in hyperglycaemic and palmitate stress conditions, suggesting that transcriptional maturation of SC-β cells in vivo mirrors processes lost in diabetic β cells.
Project description:Amyloid fibrils formed by the islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) cause pancreatic beta-cell damage, resulting in reduced insulin secretion and Type 2 diabetes (T2D). Variations in the primary amino acid sequence of IAPP can influence its aggregation rate and animals expressing IAPP variants that do not form amyloids, do not develop T2D. Conversely, specific single amino -acid changes in IAPP are enough to accelerate its aggregation rate. Understanding how mutations impact IAPP aggregation can help gain mechanistic understanding into the process of pathogenic amyloid formation of this peptide and preventively identify mutations that may contribute to the risk of developing T2D. Here, we employ deep mutational scanning to measure the ability to nucleate amyloids for 1663 IAPP variants, including substitutions, insertions, truncations and deletions and identify variants that increase amyloid formation in all mutation classes. Our results point at a continuous stretch of residues (15-32) which likely is structured in IAPP amyloids and that matches the core of the early aggregated species formed by IAPP in vitro. Inside this region, mutations have a more drastic effect in the 21-27 NNFGAIL segment, suggesting tighter structural constraints for this stretch in IAPP amyloids. Finally, by comparing this mutational atlas to that of another amyloid, Amyloid beta (Aβ42), the peptide that aggregates in Alzheimer’s Disease, we find that the effects of mutations that slow down nucleation correlate between the two amyloids, but that when it comes to mutations that accelerate nucleation one single amyloid dataset cannot be used to predict mutational effects in the other.
Project description:To investigate the effects of IAPP insult and urolithin B treatment in the gene expression of a rodent cell line, we submitted the cells to different treatments: control, urolithin B, IAPP, annd urolithin B+IAPP
Project description:The goal of this study was to identify transcriptional changes in SC-beta and SC-endothelial cells pre and post IFN-gamma stimulation. Specifically, to characterize the differential expression of immune cell ligands in these cells with respect to a partial inflammatory stimulus.
Project description:The islet in type 2 diabetes (T2D) is characterized by amyloid deposits derived from islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), a protein co-expressed with insulin by β-cells. In common with amyloidogenic proteins implicated in neurodegeneration, human IAPP (hIAPP) forms membrane permeant toxic oligomers implicated in misfolded protein stress. Here, we establish that hIAPP misfolded protein stress activates HIF1α/PFKFB3 signaling, this increases glycolysis disengaged from oxidative phosphorylation with mitochondrial fragmentation and perinuclear clustering, considered a protective posture against increased cytosolic Ca2+ characteristic of toxic oligomer stress. In contrast to tissues with the capacity to regenerate, β-cells in adult humans are minimally replicative, and therefore fail to execute the second pro-regenerative phase of the HIF1α/PFKFB3 injury pathway. Instead, β-cells in T2D remain trapped in the pro-survival first phase of the HIF1α injury repair response with metabolism and the mitochondrial network adapted to slow the rate of cell attrition at the expense of β-cell function.