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Updated: May 5, 2026

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Published on: January 3, 2013
B7-H4 expression in normal and diseased human islet β cells
Susan S C Cheung1, Dawei Ou, Daniel L Metzger
1From the Departments of *Surgery and †Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, ‡Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia; and §British Columbia Cancer Agency; and ∥Department of Pathology, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Objectives:
B7-H4 is a negative coregulatory molecule known to be involved in immune response. We study here B7-H4 expression and its possible role in diabetes and cancer development.
Methods:
Formalin-fixed, paraffin-processed pancreas samples from patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D), insulinoma, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and normal organ donors were studied by bright-field and multifluorescence immunohistochemistry to examine B7-H4 expression and its colocalization with islet endocrine hormones. Quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot assay were used to examine B7-H4 mRNA and protein expression in the islet and exocrine tissues from normal donors and pancreatic cancer cell lines.
Results:
B7-H4 protein expression in islet β cells is decreased in T1D and PDAC, but increased in insulinoma patients when compared to normal controls; the changes in B7-H4 expression are concomitant with insulin expression on the islet β cells. The insulin/B7-H4 colocalization on the β cells, expressed in colocalization coefficient Pearson r, is also changed in these islets.
Conclusions:
Our observation of altered B7-H4 expression, concomitant with insulin expression, in the pancreatic islets of T1D, PDAC, and insulinoma patients when compared to normal controls suggests that B7-H4 pathway might play an important role in maintenance of β-cell function, but its exact role remains to be explored.
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