Abstract
IntroductionDiabetes mellitus is a condition in which either the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or the cells of the body do not respond properly to the insulin produced, resulting in high levels of sugar in the bloodstream. We hypothesized that epigenetic changes in pancreatic beta cells in the pancreas, the main insulin‐producing cells in the body, may contribute to the etiology of diabetes.MethodsTo test this hypothesis, we treated human pancreatic beta cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with either high (20 mM) or low (2 mM) glucose for 14 days.ResultsWe found epigenetic changes in several hundred genes, including those involved in many signaling pathways, especially glucose metabolism and insulin secretion. Other pathways affected were those involved in oxytocin metabolism, gastric acid secretion, calcium signaling, and adrenergic signaling.ConclusionOur study suggests that diabetes may, at least in part, be caused by epigenetic changes in pancreatic beta cells. image imageThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
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