Department of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology & Stanford Diabetes Research Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Vital-IT, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Nat Metab. 2022 Aug;4(8):970-977. doi: 10.1038/s42255-022-00607-8. Epub 2022 Aug 11.
Detailed characterization of human pancreatic islets is key to elucidating the pathophysiology of all forms of diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes. However, access to human pancreatic islets is limited. Pancreatic tissue for islet retrieval can be obtained from brain-dead organ donors or from individuals undergoing pancreatectomy, often referred to as 'living donors'. Different protocols for human islet procurement can substantially impact islet function. This variability, coupled with heterogeneity between individuals and islets, results in analytical challenges to separate genuine disease pathology or differences between human donors from experimental noise. There are currently no international guidelines for human donor phenotyping, islet procurement and functional characterization. This lack of standardization means that substantial investments from multiple international efforts towards improved understanding of diabetes pathology cannot be fully leveraged. In this Perspective, we overview the status of the field of human islet research, highlight the challenges and propose actions that could accelerate research progress and increase understanding of type 2 diabetes to slow its pandemic spreading.
详细描述人类胰岛的特征是阐明所有类型糖尿病（尤其是 2 型糖尿病）病理生理学的关键。然而，人类胰岛的获取受到限制。胰岛分离可从脑死亡的器官捐献者或接受胰腺切除术的个体（通常称为“活体供体”）的胰腺组织中获得。不同的人类胰岛获取方案会对胰岛功能产生实质性影响。这种变异性，加上个体和胰岛之间的异质性，导致在分析时难以将真正的疾病病理或人类供体之间的差异与实验噪声区分开来。目前，人类供体表型、胰岛获取和功能特征描述方面尚无国际指南。这种缺乏标准化意味着，来自多个国际努力的大量投资都无法被充分利用，以提高对糖尿病病理的理解。在本观点中，我们概述了人类胰岛研究领域的现状，强调了挑战，并提出了可能加速研究进展和增加对 2 型糖尿病理解的行动，以减缓其大流行的传播。
