Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes: A Call for Efficient Differentiation of Pancreatic Progenitors

Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes: A Call for Efficient Differentiation of Pancreatic Progenitors

Given the capacity of differentiating into functional beta cells in vivo, transplantation of pancreatic progenitors derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) has been considered as a promising avenue in beta cell replacement therapy . Besides the concerns of preventing teratoma formation, reducing host immune system rejection and other related safety issues , generating sufficient number of pancreatic progenitors is one of the priorities before any consideration of clinical application.