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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

A Method for Mouse Pancreatic Islet Isolation and Intracellular cAMP Determination
Published on: June 25, 2014
Cytokine production by islets in health and diabetes: cellular origin, regulation and function
Marc Y Donath1, Marianne Böni-Schnetzler, Helga Ellingsgaard
1Clinic of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Center for Integrated Human Physiology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland. marc.donath@usz.ch
Abstract:
Islets produce a variety of cytokines and chemokines in response to physiologic and pathologic stimulation by nutrients. The cellular source of these inflammatory mediators includes alpha-, beta-, endothelial-, ductal- and recruited immune cells. Islet-derived cytokines promote alpha- and beta-cell adaptation and repair in the short term. Eventually, chronic metabolic stress can induce a deleterious autoinflammatory process in islets leading to insulin secretion failure and type 2 diabetes. Understanding the specific role of islet derived cytokines and chemokines has opened the door to targeted clinical interventions aimed at remodeling islet inflammation from destruction to adaptation. In this article, we review the islet cellular origin of various cytokines and chemokines and describe their regulation and respective roles in physiology and diabetes.
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