Stable insulin-secreting ducts formed by reprogramming of cells in the liver using a three-gene cocktail and a PPAR agonist.

With the long-term aim of developing a new type of therapy for diabetes, we have investigated the reprogramming of liver cells in normal mice toward a pancreatic phenotype using the gene combination Pdx1, Ngn3, MafA. CD1 mice were rendered diabetic with streptozotocin and given a single dose of Ad-PNM, an adenoviral vector containing all three genes. Ad-PNM induced hepatocytes of the liver to produce insulin, and the blood glucose became normalized. But over several weeks, the insulin-positive cells were lost and the blood glucose rose back to diabetic levels. Simultaneous administration of a peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor agonist, WY14643, caused remission of diabetes at a lower dose of Ad-PNM and also caused the appearance of a population of insulin-secreting ductal structures in the liver. The insulin-positive ducts were stable and were able to relieve diabetes in the long term. We show that the effect of WY14643 is associated with the promotion of cell division of the ductal cells, which may increase their susceptibility to being reprogrammed toward a beta cell fate.

Inhibition of Hes1 activity in gall bladder epithelial cells promotes insulin expression and glucose responsiveness.

The biliary system has a close developmental relationship with the pancreas, evidenced by the natural occurrence of small numbers of biliary-derived beta-cells in the biliary system and by the replacement of biliary epithelium with pancreatic tissue in mice lacking the transcription factor Hes1. In normal pancreatic development, Hes1 is known to repress endocrine cell formation. Here we show that glucose-responsive insulin secretion can be induced in biliary epithelial cells when activity of the transcription factor Hes1 is antagonised. We describe a new culture system for adult murine gall bladder epithelial cells (GBECs), free from fibroblast contamination. We show that Hes1 is expressed both in adult murine gall bladder and in cultured GBECs. We have created a new dominant negative Hes1 (DeltaHes1) by removal of the DNA-binding domain, and show that it antagonises Hes1 function in vivo. When DeltaHes1 is introduced into the GBEC it causes expression of insulin RNA and protein. Furthermore, it confers upon the cells the ability to secrete insulin following exposure to increased external glucose. GBEC cultures are induced to express a wider range of mature beta cell markers when co-transduced with DeltaHes1 and the pancreatic transcription factor Pdx1. Introduction of DeltaHes1 and Pdx1 can therefore initiate a partial respecification of phenotype from biliary epithelial cell towards the pancreatic beta cell.

Use of adenovirus for ectopic gene expression in Xenopus.

We show that replication defective adenovirus can be used for localized overexpression of a chosen gene in Xenopus tadpoles. Xenopus contains two homologs of the Coxsackie and Adenovirus Receptor (xCAR1 and 2), both of which can confer sensitivity for adenovirus infection. xCAR1 mRNA is present from the late gastrula stage and xCAR2 throughout development, both being widely expressed in the embryo and tadpole. Consistent with the expression of the receptors, adenovirus will infect a wide range of Xenopus tissues cultured in vitro. It will also infect early embryos when injected into the blastocoel or archenteron cavities. Furthermore, adenovirus can be delivered by localized injection to tadpoles and will infect a patch of cells around the injection site. The expression of green fluorescent protein in infected cells persists for several weeks. This new gene delivery method complements the others that are already available. Developmental Dynamics 238:1412-1421, 2009. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Metaplasia and somatic cell reprogramming.

The nature and occurrence of metaplasia is briefly reviewed. A theory of how metaplasia is initiated is presented, depending on the idea that it represents an alteration in the combination of developmental transcription factors that are expressed. Two examples of experimental metaplasia, provoked by over-expression of specific transcription factors, are presented: the transformation of B lymphocytes to macrophages, and of pancreatic exocrine cells to hepatocytes. The formation of induced pluripotential stem cells (iPS cells) is considered an example of the same process, in which the destination state is the embryonic stem cell. It is noted that iPS cell production is a stochastic process, depending on selection to obtain the desired cell type. It is proposed that analogous technology, using the appropriate transcription factors, could be used to bring about transformation to cell types other than embryonic stem cells.

Origin of stem cells in organogenesis.

The development of individual organs in animal embryos involves the formation of tissue-specific stem cells that sustain cell renewal of their own tissue for the lifetime of the organism. Although details of their origin are not always known, tissue-specific stem cells usually share the expression of key transcription factors with cells of the embryonic rudiment from which they arise, and are probably in a similar developmental state. On the other hand, the isolation of pluripotent stem cells from the postnatal organism has encouraged the formulation of models of embryonic and postnatal development that are at variance with the conventional ones. Possible explanations for the existence of such cells, and the issue of whether they also exist in vivo, are discussed.

Origin of pancreatic endocrine cells from biliary duct epithelium.

We describe an explant culture system to study the formation of pancreatic-type endocrine cells by the biliary tract. In this model, beta-cells and other endocrine cells appear in the biliary duct epithelium and their number increases. Evidence for an origin from the duct epithelium is threefold. Firstly, differentiating cells transiently co-express insulin and bind Dolichos lectin. Secondly, beta-cells in cultures isolated from Alb-Cre-R26R-LacZ mice are beta-galactosidase positive. Thirdly, co-culture of biliary epithelium and ROSA26 pancreatic buds shows that endocrine cells do not migrate from the pancreas. The expression of the pancreatic transcription factors Pdx1, HNF6 and Sox9 is widespread, as is Hes1, which represses endocrine development, while that of Ngn3, which is a proendocrine transcription factor, is transient, consistent with an early stage of endocrine cell differentiation. Nicotinamide will increase the number of beta-cells formed, while EGF+LIF completely inhibits their formation.

The Xenopus tadpole: a new model for regeneration research.

The Xenopus tadpole is a favourable organism for regeneration research because it is suitable for a wide range of micromanipulative procedures and for a wide range of transgenic methods. Combination of these techniques enables genes to be activated or inhibited at specific times and in specific tissue types to a much higher degree than in any other organism capable of regeneration. Regenerating systems include the tail, the limb buds and the lens. The study of tail regeneration has shown that each tissue type supplies the cells for its own replacement: there is no detectable de-differentiation or metaplasia. Signalling systems needed for regeneration include the BMP and Notch signalling pathways, and perhaps also the Wnt and FGF pathways. The limb buds will regenerate completely at early stages, but not once they are fully differentiated. This provides a good opportunity to study the loss of regenerative ability using transgenic methods.

Betacellulin inhibits amylase and glucagon production and promotes beta cell differentiation in mouse embryonic pancreas.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Betacellulin, a member of the epidermal growth factor family, is expressed in the pancreas and is thought to regulate differentiation of beta cells during development. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of exogenous betacellulin on the development of the mouse embryonic pancreas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used an in vitro culture model system based on the isolation and culture of the dorsal embryonic pancreas from day 11.5 embryos. Cultures were treated for up to 10 days with 10 ng/ml betacellulin and then analysed for changes in the expression of pancreatic exocrine, endocrine and ductal markers. RESULTS: Pancreases developed in culture and expressed the full complement of exocrine (both acinar and ductal) and endocrine cell types. Betacellulin enhanced branching morphogenesis and the proliferation of mesenchyme, increased Pdx1 and insulin production and inhibited the production of the exocrine cell marker amylase and the endocrine hormone glucagon. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: These results suggest betacellulin has distinct and separate effects on exocrine, endocrine and ductal differentiation. In the future, betacellulin could perhaps be utilised to increase the production of beta cells from embryonic pancreatic tissue for therapeutic transplantation.

Cellular and molecular mechanisms of regeneration in Xenopus.

We have employed transgenic methods combined with embryonic grafting to analyse the mechanisms of regeneration in Xenopus tadpoles. The Xenopus tadpole tail contains a spinal cord, notochord and segmented muscles, and all tissues are replaced when the tail regenerates after amputation. We show that there is a refractory period of very low regenerative ability in the early tadpole stage. Tracing of cell lineage with the use of single tissue transgenic grafts labelled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) shows that there is no de-differentiation and no metaplasia during regeneration. The spinal cord, notochord and muscle all regenerate from the corresponding tissue in the stump; in the case of the muscle the satellite cells provide the material for regeneration. By using constitutive or dominant negative gene products, induced under the control of a heat shock promoter, we show that the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and Notch signalling pathways are both essential for regeneration. BMP is upstream of Notch and has an independent effect on regeneration of muscle. The Xenopus limb bud will regenerate completely at the early stages but regenerative ability falls during digit differentiation. We have developed a procedure for making tadpoles in which one hindlimb is transgenic and the remainder wild-type. This has been used to introduce various gene products expected to prolong the period of regenerative capacity, but none has so far been successful.

Independent induction and formation of the dorsal and ventral fins in Xenopus laevis.

It has been known since the 1930s that the dorsal fin is induced by the underlying neural crest. The inducer of the ventral fin, however, has remained elusive. We have investigated the source of the inducer of the ventral fin in Xenopus and show that it is the ventral mesoderm and not the neural crest. This induction takes place during mid-neurula stages and is completed by late neurulation. In terms of cell composition, the dorsal fin mesenchyme core arises from neural crest cells, while the mesenchyme of the ventral fin has a dual origin. The ventral fin contains neural crest cells that migrate in from the dorsal side of the embryo, but a contribution is also made by cells from the ventral mesoderm.