[HTML][HTML] FOXO1 inhibition yields functional insulin-producing cells in human gut organoid cultures

R Bouchi, KS Foo, H Hua, K Tsuchiya… - Nature …, 2014 - nature.com
R Bouchi, KS Foo, H Hua, K Tsuchiya, Y Ohmura, PR Sandoval, LE Ratner, D Egli
Nature communications, 2014nature.com
Generation of surrogate sources of insulin-producing β-cells remains a goal of diabetes
therapy. While most efforts have been directed at differentiating embryonic or induced
pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into β-like-cells through endodermal progenitors, we have shown
that gut endocrine progenitor cells of mice can be differentiated into glucose-responsive,
insulin-producing cells by ablation of transcription factor Foxo1. Here we show that FOXO1
is present in human gut endocrine progenitor and serotonin-producing cells. Using gut …
Abstract
Generation of surrogate sources of insulin-producing β-cells remains a goal of diabetes therapy. While most efforts have been directed at differentiating embryonic or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into β-like-cells through endodermal progenitors, we have shown that gut endocrine progenitor cells of mice can be differentiated into glucose-responsive, insulin-producing cells by ablation of transcription factor Foxo1. Here we show that FOXO1 is present in human gut endocrine progenitor and serotonin-producing cells. Using gut organoids derived from human iPS cells, we show that FOXO1 inhibition using a dominant-negative mutant or lentivirus-encoded small hairpin RNA promotes generation of insulin-positive cells that express all markers of mature pancreatic β-cells, release C-peptide in response to secretagogues and survive in vivo following transplantation into mice. The findings raise the possibility of using gut-targeted FOXO1 inhibition or gut organoids as a source of insulin-producing cells to treat human diabetes.
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