Beta cell heterogeneity: an evolving concept

Dana Avrahami, Agnes Klochendler, Yuval Dor, Benjamin Glaser*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

Beta cells are primarily defined by their ability to produce insulin and secrete it in response to appropriate stimuli. It has been known for some time, however, that beta cells are not functionally identical to each other and that the rates of insulin synthesis and release differ from cell to cell, although the functional significance of this variability remains unclear. Recent studies have used heterogeneous gene expression to isolate and evaluate different subpopulations of beta cells and to demonstrate alterations in these subpopulations in diabetes. In the last few years, novel technologies have emerged that permit the detailed evaluation of the proteome (e.g. time-of-flight mass spectroscopy, [CyTOF]) and transcriptome (e.g. massively parallel RNA sequencing) at the single-cell level, and tools for single beta cell metabolomics and epigenomics are quickly maturing. The first wave of single beta cell proteome and transcriptome studies were published in 2016, giving a glimpse into the power, but also the limitations, of these approaches. Despite this progress, it remains unclear if the observed heterogeneity of beta cells represents stable, distinct beta cell types or, alternatively, highly dynamic beta cell states. Here we provide a concise overview of recent developments in the emerging field of beta cell heterogeneity and the implications for our understanding of beta cell biology and pathology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1363-1369
Number of pages7
JournalDiabetologia
Volume60
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Related work in our laboratories is supported through NIH grants (UC4DK104119; to BG and DA), the BIRAX Regenerative Medicine Initiative (14BX14NHBG; to BG) and the Israel Science Foundation–JDRF Joint Program in Type 1 Diabetes Research (1506/12; to BG).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Keywords

  • Beta cells
  • Cellular heterogeneity
  • Diabetes
  • Islets of Langerhans
  • Pancreas
  • Review
  • Single-cell proteomics
  • Single-cell transcriptomics
  • Transcriptional plasticity

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