Isolation, expansion, and characterization of human islet-derived progenitor cells

Islet transplantation is a widely accepted and practiced cell replacement therapy for treatment of diabetes. However, scarcity of suitable cadaveric pancreas donors is a major limitation that restricts the availability of this therapy to millions of diabetic individuals worldwide. Research in the field has therefore focused on search for an alternate cell source. Various stem/progenitor cells have been considered to be suitable for replacement therapy in diabetes since they have the potential to proliferate and differentiate. Over last few years, we have specifically focused our attention on understanding the potential of progenitor cells that are derived from in vitro expansion of human islets. Since epigenetic marks that define an "active" insulin promoter region in beta cells are inherited during in vitro expansion, we believe that human islet-derived progenitor cells (hIPCs) represent a lineage-committed population of islet precursor cells. Here, we describe details of the method for isolation, expansion, and characterization of human islet-derived progenitor cells (hIPCs).