Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Into Pancreatic Beta-Cell Precursors in a 2D Culture System

This optimized protocol enhanced the generation of pancreatic beta cell precursors from human pluripotent stem cells, which can be used for cell therapy for diabetes and investigating molecular mechanisms underlining diabetes biogenesis. This is a feasible technique as it is used for 2D monolayer cultures. It is easy to apply, and is consistent across multiple control and patient-derived pluripotent stem cell lines.

These beta cell precursors when transplanted in a diabetic patient can mature into insulin secreting beta cells, and can potentially reverse hyperglycemia. Therefore, the increased percentages of pancreatic progenitors generated using our protocol can be used for cell therapy for diabetes. This enhanced protocol can be used for studying early human pancreatic development in healthy individuals as well as in diabetic patients, which is challenging due to a shortage of tissue samples.