ransduced adult stem cells into insulin-secreting cells

he promising results in replacement of the beta-cell mass have been accomplished by beta-cells implanting. However, the demand for beta-cells is far greater than the supply. The transdifferentiation of stem cells into insulin-secreting cells could potentially provide a new help for beta-cell supplying. To determine whether the myoblast cell line C2C12 could be induced to transdifferentiate into insulin-secreting cells by pancreatic-duodenum homeobox-1 (PDX-1). A myoblast cell line (C2C12) was transfected by the PDX-1 constructing to overexpress PDX-1 protein and then treated with various concentrations of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). The Expression of PDX-1 and insulin mRNA was determined by in situ hybridization and the intracellular insulin was determined by immunocytochemistry. The result shows that the PDX-1 transfected cells expressed more insulin and secreted more insulin than the vector transfected cells. We conclude that PDX-1 and GLP-1 might induce myoblasts to transdifferentiate into insulin-secreting cells.