贝塔细胞正常分泌胰岛素是治疗糖尿病的关键。如果能将大量完全分化的成年细胞以受控方式转变成能分泌胰岛素的贝塔细胞的话，糖尿病治疗的前景将会改变。虽然以前文献中有几个以这种方式生成贝塔细胞的例子，但这个过程迄今为止是无法控制的。
美国科研人员最新研究发现，患糖尿病的活小鼠的外分泌胰腺细胞可被重新编程(生物谷注:重编程即细胞的再程序化,使分化后的细胞重新分化的技术)，成为能够产生胰岛素的内分泌细胞，与贝塔细胞相似，从一种分化状态进入另一种分化状态，中间并不需转变成干细胞。这种策略是基于早先关于胰腺发育中所涉及转录因子的研究成果：三种因子（Ngn3, Pdx1 和 Mafa）的组合是该过程中的关键成分。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原始出处:
Nature 455, 627-632 (2 October 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature07314
In vivo reprogramming of adult pancreatic exocrine cells to β-cells
Qiao Zhou1, Juliana Brown2, Andrew Kanarek1, Jayaraj Rajagopal1 & Douglas A. Melton1
1 Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, 7 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
2 Department of Pathology, Children's Hospital, Boston, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115-5724, USA
One goal of regenerative medicine is to instructively convert adult cells into other cell types for tissue repair and regeneration. Although isolated examples of adult cell reprogramming are known, there is no general understanding of how to turn one cell type into another in a controlled manner. Here, using a strategy of re-expressing key developmental regulators in vivo, we identify a specific combination of three transcription factors (Ngn3 (also known as Neurog3) Pdx1 and Mafa) that reprograms differentiated pancreatic exocrine cells in adult mice into cells that closely resemble -cells. The induced -cells are indistinguishable from endogenous islet -cells in size, shape and ultrastructure. They express genes essential for -cell function and can ameliorate hyperglycaemia by remodelling local vasculature and secreting insulin. This study provides an example of cellular reprogramming using defined factors in an adult organ and suggests a general paradigm for directing cell reprogramming without reversion to a pluripotent stem cell state.
