Source: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Date: July 20, 2009
Summary:
Scientists have identified a master regulator gene for early embryonic development of the pancreas and other organs, putting researchers closer to coaxing stem cells into pancreatic cells as a possible cure for type1 diabetes. Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report their findings in the July 21 Developmental Cell.
Besides having important implications in diabetes research, the study offers new insights into congenital birth defects involving the pancreas and biliary system by concluding both organs share a common cellular ancestry in the early mouse embryo. This discovery reverses a long standing belief that the biliary systems origin is connected to early embryonic formation of the liver, the researchers said. The pancreas regulates digestion and blood sugar, and the biliary system is vital for digestion. If the organs do not form properly during fetal development, it can be fatal. The study reports that one gene, Sox17 (a transcription factor that controls which genes are turned on or off in a cell) is the key regulator for giving instruction to cells in early mouse embryos to become either a pancreatic cell or part of the biliary system.
