Molecular regulation of pancreatic beta-cell mass development, maintenance, and expansion.

Pancreatic beta-cells are responsible for producing all of the insulin required by an organism to maintain glucose homeostasis. Defects in development, maintenance, or expansion of beta-cell mass can result in impaired glucose metabolism and diabetes. Thus, identifying the molecular regulators of these processes may provide new therapeutic targets for diabetes. Additionally, understanding the processes of beta-cell differentiation and proliferation may allow for in vitro cultivation of beta-cells in sufficient amounts to be transplanted into patients with diabetes. This review addresses many of the transcription factors and signaling pathways that play a role in early pancreatic development and endocrine cell (specifically beta-cell) differentiation, conditions that influence beta-cell mass development and molecular regulators of beta-cell proliferation and apoptosis that are responsible for maintaining and expanding beta-cell mass.