Generation and Characterization of iPSC-derived Insulin-producing Pancreatic Beta Islets

Diabetes is a chronic condition resulting from the loss or dysfunction of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells, which leads to an inability to properly regulate blood glucose levels. While this disease is commonly managed through insulin injections or oral drugs, stem cell-based therapy is being explored as a novel approach for treatment. This method aims to use pluripotent stem cells to generate insulin-producing pancreatic beta islets that can be transplanted into a diabetic patient to replace the dead or damaged cells and restore their function.

In this application note, we show that R&D Systems’ reagents and analysis platforms can be used to support pancreatic beta cell manufacturing workflows from cell culture to phenotyping and functional characterization.

Key Takeaways

• Differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to pancreatic beta cells was highly efficient and reproducible over multiple experiments.
• The final cell population was highly enriched for beta cells, with 75-80% of the cells consistently staining double positive for the markers C-peptide and NKX6.1.
• The beta islets secreted insulin following glucose stimulation at levels comparable to those reported in the literature for functional beta islets.