Since the report of type 1 diabetes reversal in seven consecutive patients by the Edmonton protocol in 2000, pancreatic islet transplantation has been reappraised based on accumulated clinical evidence. Although initially expected to therapeutically target long-term insulin independence, islet transplantation is now indicated for more specific clinical benefits. With the long-awaited report of ...

Objective(s): The use of a co-culture of islets with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) is a promising therapy in islet transplantation to revert hyperglycaemia, but the resulting insulin-producing cells (IPCs) express low levels of pancreas endocrine developmental genes. This study aims to investigate the morphochronology of a co-culture of islets with MSCs from injured adult pancreata, and char...

β-Cell replacement through transplantation is the only curative treatment to establish a long-term stable euglycemia in diabetic patients. Owing to the shortage of donor tissue, attempts are being made to develop alternative sources of insulin-secreting cells. Stem cells differentiation and reprograming as well as isolating pancreatic progenitors from different sources are some examples; howeve...

Familial multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (FMEN1) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by tumors of the parathyroid glands, pancreatic islets, and anterior pituitary. The gene for this disease maps to chromosome 11q12-11q13, and allelic loss in this region has been shown in both sporadic and FMEN1-related parathyroid tumors. FMEN1-related pancreatic islet tumors, and rarely in spo...

The homeodomain-containing transcription factor pancreatic duodenal homeobox 1 (PDX-1) plays a key role in pancreatic development and β-cell function. It is a major regulator of transcription in pancreatic cells, and transactivates the insulin gene by binding to a specific DNA motif in its promoter region. Glucose also regulates insulin gene transcription through PDX-1. It has been shown that P...

Neurovascular alignment is a common anatomical feature of organs, but the mechanisms leading to this arrangement are incompletely understood. Here, we show that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling profoundly affects both vascularization and innervation of the pancreatic islet. In mature islets, nerves are closely associated with capillaries, but the islet vascularization process...

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) promotes insulin secretion, inhibits glucagon and repairs pancreatic islet cell function to enhance proliferation regeneration. Furthermore, it includes a mechanism for weight loss angiocarpy protection. This study covers the comparison of GLP-1 agonists with DPP-4 inhibitors GLT-2 inhibitors, agonists, its research possibilities based on summary current clinical...

PRL and placental lactogen (PL) stimulate beta-cell proliferation and insulin gene transcription in isolated islets and rat insulinoma cells, but the roles of the lactogenic hormones in islet development and insulin production in vivo remain unclear. To clarify the roles of the lactogens in pancreatic development and function, we measured islet density (number of islets/cm(2)) and mean islet si...

The autonomic nervous system regulates hormone secretion from the endocrine pancreas, the islets of Langerhans, thus impacting glucose metabolism. The parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves innervate the pancreatic islet, but the precise innervation patterns are unknown, particularly in human. Here we demonstrate that the innervation of human islets is different from that of mouse islets and do...

Islet cell tumours are rare lesions. The majority (85%) are functioning hormone-producing tumours, insulinomas and gastrinomas being the most common. Approximately 15% of islet cell tumours are nonfunctioning. These are usually larger lesions, often presenting at an advanced stage as a pancreatic mass or with metastatic disease. This review will focus on the role of endoscopic ultrasound in the...