PDGF Facilitates Direct Lineage Reprogramming of Hepatocytes to Functional β-Like Cells Induced by Pdx1 and Ngn3.

Islet transplantation has been proven to be an effective treatment for patients with type 1 diabetes, but a lack of islet donors limits the use of transplantation therapies. It has been previously demonstrated that hepatocytes can be converted into insulin-producing β-like cells by introducing pancreatic transcription factors, indicating that direct hepatocyte reprogramming holds potential as a treatment for diabetes. However, the efficiency at which functional β-cells can be derived from hepatocyte reprogramming remains low. Here we demonstrated that the combination of Pdx1 and Ngn3 can trigger reprogramming of mouse and human liver cells to insulin-producing cells that exhibit the characteristics of pancreatic β-cells. Treatment with PDGF-AA was found to facilitate Pdx1 and Ngn3-induced reprogramming of hepatocytes to β-like cells with the ability to secrete insulin in response to glucose stimulus. Importantly, this reprogramming strategy could be applied to adult mouse primary hepatocytes, and the transplantation of β-like cells derived from primary hepatocyte reprogramming could ameliorate hyperglycemia in diabetic mice. These findings support the possibility of developing transplantation therapies for type 1 diabetes through the use of β-like cells derived from autologous hepatocyte reprogramming.