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Comparative Study on the Proliferation and Differentiation of Fetal and Adult Human Islet-derived Precursor Cells in vitro
Zhen-Hua Ren1,2, Shu-Yan Wang1, Ying Zhang1, Chun-Lin Zou1, Y. Alex Zhang1*
1Cell Therapy Center, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053, China; 2Department of Anatomy, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China
Abstract: Hyperglycemia arises from the selective destruction of pancreatic insulin producing β-cells in type 1 and the late stages of type 2 diabetes. Cell therapy represents a potential cure for diabetes mellitus， but is limited by availability of human pancreatic tissue. Stem/progenitors cells within pancreatic tissue are a potential source for transplantation because they can expand exponentially and produce functional insulin-producing cells. Human islet-derived precursor cells (hIPCs) are capable to proliferate and differentiate into functional cells that secreted insulin in response to glucose in vivo and in vitro. In this study， we isolated and cultured hIPCs from fetal and adult human islets， and compared the proliferation and differentiation ability of hIPCs in vitro. Results showed that fetal hIPCs had greater potentiality for proliferation and differentiation than that of adult hIPCs. Our finding suggested that fetal hIPCs might be more suitable for clinical and experimental study on cell transplantation for diabetes.
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