Function of Isolated Pancreatic Islets From Patients at Onset of Type 1 Diabetes: Insulin Secretion Can Be Restored After Some Days in a Nondiabetogenic Environment In Vitro

Abstract

The understanding of the etiology of type 1 diabetes (T1D) remains limited. One objective of the Diabetes Virus Detection (DiViD) study was to collect pancreatic tissue from living subjects shortly after the diagnosis of T1D. Here we report the insulin secretion ability by in vitro glucose perifusion and explore the expression of insulin pathway genes in isolated islets of Langerhans from these patients. Whole-genome RNA sequencing was performed on islets from six DiViD study patients and two organ donors who died at the onset of T1D, and the findings were compared with those from three nondiabetic organ donors. All human transcripts involved in the insulin pathway were present in the islets at the onset of T1D. Glucose-induced insulin secretion was present in some patients at the onset of T1D, and a perfectly normalized biphasic insulin release was obtained after some days in a nondiabetogenic environment in vitro. This indicates that the potential for endogenous insulin production is good, which could be taken advantage of if the disease process was reversed at diagnosis.