美国哈佛大学Douglas A. Melton研究组鉴定人具有白血病抑制因子（LIF）反应性和复制能力的β细胞亚群。相关论文2020年1月9日发表在《细胞—代谢》杂志上。

他们利用YAP过表达系统来诱导干细胞来源的β细胞复制，并通过单细胞RNA测序鉴定白血病抑制因子（LIF）途径的上调。LIF途径的激活在体外和体内诱导人β细胞的复制。LIF受体的表达受限于增殖能力增强的转录上不同的人类β细胞。 这项研究描述了控制LIF反应，具有复制能力的人类β细胞的新型遗传网络。

据了解，胚胎发生期间形成的β细胞团在胎儿和出生后早期发育期间通过细胞复制而扩增。此后，β细胞功能成熟，并且通过低复制速率维持其质量。对于在成年后复制的少数β细胞，尚不清楚复制是如何开始的，也不知道复制是否会在专门的β细胞亚群中发生。

附：英文原文

Title: Identification of a LIF-Responsive, Replication-Competent Subpopulation of Human β Cells

Author: Edwin A. Rosado-Olivieri, Idil I. Aigha, Jennifer H. Kenty, Douglas A. Melton

Issue&Volume: January 9, 2020

Abstract: The beta (β)-cell mass formed during embryogenesis is amplified by cell replicationduring fetal and early postnatal development. Thereafter, β cells become functionallymature, and their mass is maintained by a low rate of replication. For those few βcells that replicate in adult life, it is not known how replication is initiated norwhether this occurs in a specialized subset of β cells. We capitalized on a YAP overexpressionsystem to induce replication of stem-cell-derived β cells and, by single-cell RNAsequencing, identified an upregulation of the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) pathway.Activation of the LIF pathway induces replication of human β cells in vitro and in vivo. The expression of the LIF receptor is restricted to a subset of transcriptionallydistinct human β cells with increased proliferative capacity. This study delineatesnovel genetic networks that control the replication of LIF-responsive, replication-competenthuman β cells.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2019.12.009

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(19)30674-6