Generation of pluripotent stem cells from patients with type 1 diabetes
- René Maehra,
- Shuibing Chena,
- Melinda Snitowa,
- Thomas Ludwigb,
- Lisa Yagasakia,
- Robin Golandc,
- Rudolph L. Leibelc and
- Douglas A. Meltona,1
- aDepartment of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, 7 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138; and
- bDepartment of Pathology and Cell Biology, and
- cDivision of Molecular Genetics and Naomi Barrie Diabetes Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032
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Contributed by Douglas A. Melton, July 8, 2009 (received for review May 18, 2009)
Abstract
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is the result of an autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β cells. The cellular and molecular defects that cause the disease remain unknown. Pluripotent cells generated from patients with T1D would be useful for disease modeling. We show here that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be generated from patients with T1D by reprogramming their adult fibroblasts with three transcription factors (OCT4, SOX2, KLF4). T1D-specific iPS cells, termed DiPS cells, have the hallmarks of pluripotency and can be differentiated into insulin-producing cells. These results are a step toward using DiPS cells in T1D disease modeling, as well as for cell replacement therapy.
Footnotes
- 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dmelton{at}harvard.edu
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Author contributions: R.M., R.G., R.L.L., and D.A.M. designed research; R.M., S.C., M.S., and L.Y. performed research; T.L., R.G., and R.L.L. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; R.M., S.C., L.Y., R.L.L., and D.A.M. analyzed data; and R.M. and D.A.M. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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See Commentary on page 15523.
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This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0906894106/DCSupplemental.
