First published online February 9, 2006
Development 133, 505e (2006)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Straight talking to the pancreas
The transplantation of insulin-producing pancreatic ß-cells holds
great hope for treating type I diabetes. Supplies of these cells are limited,
but a report by Stafford and co-workers that retinoic acid (RA) signalling
from the mesoderm directly induces insulin-expressing ß-cells in
zebrafish endoderm advances the prospect of converting stem cells into
ß-cells for transplantation (see
p. 949). The pancreas
develops from the endoderm in response to RA synthesized by adjacent mesoderm,
but whether RA signals directly or indirectly to the endoderm has been
unclear. The researchers used cell transplantation to show that RA synthesis
and RA receptor expression in the anterior paraxial mesoderm and endoderm,
respectively, but not in other tissues, are required for the development of
insulin-expressing ß-cells. Furthermore, the activation of RA
signal transduction in the endoderm alone induces insulin expression.
Together, these results indicate that mesodermally derived RA is an
instructive signal that directly induces pancreatic precursors. Thus, RA could
be used to induce stem cells to differentiate into ß-cells for
therapeutic purposes.
Related articles in Development:
- Retinoids signal directly to zebrafish endoderm to specify insulin-expressing ß-cells
- David Stafford, Richard J. White, Mary D. Kinkel, Angela Linville, Thomas F. Schilling, and Victoria E. Prince
Development 2006 133: 949-956.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
