Arnes Luis, Sussel Lori
Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Trends Genet. 2015 Jun;31(6):290-9. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2015.02.008. Epub 2015 Mar 23.
Insulin-producing β cells within the pancreatic islet of Langerhans are responsible for maintaining glucose homeostasis; the loss or malfunction of β cells results in diabetes mellitus. Recent advances in cell purification strategies and sequencing technologies as well as novel molecular tools have revealed that epigenetic modifications and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent an integral part of the transcriptional mechanisms regulating pancreas development and β cell function. Importantly, these findings have uncovered a new layer of gene regulation in the pancreas that can be exploited to enhance the restoration and/or repair of β cells to treat diabetes.
胰腺胰岛中产生胰岛素的β细胞负责维持葡萄糖稳态；β细胞的丧失或功能异常会导致糖尿病。细胞纯化策略和测序技术以及新型分子工具的最新进展表明，表观遗传修饰和长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）是调节胰腺发育和β细胞功能的转录机制的一个组成部分。重要的是，这些发现揭示了胰腺中基因调控的一个新层面，可用于增强β细胞的恢复和/或修复以治疗糖尿病。
