Identification of a liver-derived factor that regulates proliferation of islet alpha cells

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K15356
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Endocrinology
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Hayashi Yoshitaka 名古屋大学, 環境医学研究所, 准教授 (80420363)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: グルカゴン / アミノ酸 / ノックアウトマウス / 糖尿病 / 神経内分泌腫瘍

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Homozygous glucagon-GFP knock-in mice, which is deficient in all the peptide derived from proglucagon, are nomoglycemic and develop hyperplasia of GFP-positive islet alpha-like cells. To elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of alpha cell proliferation, subrenal capsule transplantation experiments were performed, and the result indicated that proliferation of alpha cells is regulated by a humoral factor(s) derived from liver. Although exploration to identify a specific humoral factor failed to identify such factors encoded by a specific gene, accumulating data suggested that hyperaminoacidemia under glucagon deficiency should be involved in accelerated proliferation of islet alpha cells.

Free Research Field

内分泌学