Authors: Hideaki Kaneto,; Takeshi Miyatsuka,; Toshihiko Shiraiwa,; Kaoru Yamamoto,; Ken Kato,; Yoshio Fujitani,; Taka-aki Matsuoka,

Source: Current Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 14, Number 16, July 2007 , pp. 1745-1752(8)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

Pancreatic and duodenal homeobox factor-1 (PDX-1) plays a crucial role in pancreas development, β-cell differentiation, and maintaining mature β-cell function. At an early stage of embryonic development, PDX-1 is initially expressed in the gut region when the foregut endoderm becomes committed to common pancreatic precursor cells. During pancreas development, PDX-1 expression is maintained in precursor cells, and later it becomes restricted to β-cells. In mature β-cells, PDX-1 transactivates the insulin gene and other genes involved in glucose sensing and metabolism, such as GLUT2 and glucokinase. MafA is a recently isolated β-cell-specific transcription factor which functions as a potent activator of insulin gene transcription. During pancreas development, MafA expression is first detected at the beginning of the principal phase of insulinproducing cell production. Furthermore, these transcription factors play a crucial role in inducing surrogate β-cells from non-β- cells and thus could be therapeutic targets for diabetes.

Keywords: PDX-1; MafA; transcription factor; pancreas development; β-cell differentiation; surrogate β-cells

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/092986707781058887

Affiliations: 1: Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics (A8), Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.

Publication date: 2007-07-01

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• Current Medicinal Chemistry covers all the latest and outstanding developments in medicinal chemistry and rational drug design. Each issue contains a series of timely in-depth reviews written by leaders in the field covering a range of the current topics in medicinal chemistry. Current Medicinal Chemistry is an essential journal for every medicinal chemist who wishes to be kept informed and up-to-date with the latest and most important developments.

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