CD82 is a marker to isolate β cell precursors from human iPS cells and plays a role for the maturation of β cells.

Generation of pancreatic β cells from pluripotent stem cells is a key technology to develop cell therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes and considerable efforts have been made to produce β cells. However, due to multiple and lengthy differentiation steps, production of β cells is often unstable. It is also desirable to eliminate undifferentiated cells to avoid potential risks of tumorigenesis. To isolate β cell precursors from late stage pancreatic endocrine progenitor (EP) cells derived from iPS cells, we have identified CD82, a member of the tetraspanin family. CD82 cells at the EP stage differentiated into endocrine cells more efficiently than CD82 EP stage cells. We also show that CD82 cells in human islets secreted insulin more efficiently than CD82 cells. Furthermore, knockdown of CD82 expression by siRNA or inhibition of CD82 by monoclonal antibodies in NGN3 cells suppressed the function of β cells with glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, suggesting that CD82 plays a role in maturation of EP cells to β cells.