Molecular Mechanisms of Human Pancreatic Islet Dysfunction Under Overnutrition Metabolic Stress

What is it about?

We used single-cell RNA sequencing to study how human pancreatic islet cells respond to the environmental stress induced by high sugar and fat, a condition contributing to the development of type 2 diabetes. We found that insulin-producing beta cells are the most vulnerable to the stress among all islet cell types, with disrupted gene activity and reduced cell-to-cell communication. Epigenetic mechanism helps protect against further dysfunction in beta cells.

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