Victor Navarro-Tableros, Chiara Gai, Yonathan Gomez, Sara Giunti, Chiara Pasquino, Maria Chiara Deregibus, Marta Tapparo, Adriana Pitino, Ciro Tetta, Maria Felice Brizzi, Camillo Ricordi, Giovanni Camussi
A potential therapeutic strategy for diabetes is the transplantation of induced-insulin secreting cells. Based on the common embryonic origin of liver and pancreas, we studied the potential of adult human liver stem-like cells (HLSC) to generate in vitro insulin-producing 3D spheroid structures (HLSC-ILS). HLSC-ILS were generated by a one-step protocol based on charge dependent aggregation of HLSC induced by protamine. 3D aggregation promoted the spontaneous differentiation into cells expressing insulin and several key markers of pancreatic β cells...
September 6, 2018: Stem Cell Reviews