Russ Holger A, Efrat Shimon
Diabetes Center, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143, USA.
Pediatr Endocrinol Rev. 2011 Dec;9(2):590-7.
Diabetes mellitus is characterized by the loss of insulin-producing beta cells. While conventional treatment results in severe long-term complications, cell replacement therapy is a promising approach for the cure of this disease. However, its application is severally limited by the shortage of donor tissue. Hence, great research efforts concentrate on the development of an abundant cell source of functional beta-like cells, by pursuing three main strategies: Expansion of human donor beta cells in vitro, reprogramming of other cell types, and directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cells, both embryonic and patient-derived. The goal of all these approaches has been the generation of cells with properties that closely resemble the beta-cell phenotype, in particular production and storage of adequate amounts of mature insulin, and its regulated release in response to physiological signals. Here we review recent progress in all three approaches and discuss their advantages as well as remaining challenges.
糖尿病的特征是产生胰岛素的β细胞缺失。虽然传统治疗会导致严重的长期并发症，但细胞替代疗法是治愈这种疾病的一种有前景的方法。然而，其应用受到供体组织短缺的严重限制。因此，大量的研究工作集中在开发丰富的功能性β样细胞来源上，主要采用三种策略：在体外扩增人供体β细胞、对其他细胞类型进行重编程以及定向分化胚胎和患者来源的多能干细胞。所有这些方法的目标都是生成具有与β细胞表型非常相似特性的细胞，特别是产生和储存足够量的成熟胰岛素，并根据生理信号进行调节释放。在这里，我们回顾了这三种方法的最新进展，并讨论了它们的优点以及仍然存在的挑战。
