Extracellular Signals and Pancreatic -cell Development: A Brief Review

Cell lineage development is a finely tuned process of proliferation and differentiation, survival and apoptosis, that is regulated by numerous extracellular signals. Here we review some of the extracellular signals— including insoluble cell–cell and extracellular matrix–cell interactions, as well as soluble factors—that appear Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Fang-Xu Jiang, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville 3050, Australia. Phone: 61-3-9345 2468; fax: 61-3-9347 0852; e-mail: [email protected]. critical for pancreatic -cell development. Knowledge of how these signals control the development of pancreatic endocrine stem/precursor cells into fully functional insulin-secreting cells is a platform for the restoration of -cell function and the cure therapy of type 1 diabetes.