Physically interacting beta-delta pairs in the regenerating pancreas revealed by single-cell sequencing
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Updated: Oct 3, 2026
In Vitro Colony Assays for Characterizing Tri-potent Progenitor Cells Isolated from the Adult Murine Pancreas
Published on: June 10, 2016
Eran Yanowski1, Nancy S Yacovzada1, Eyal David2
1Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel; Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
Objectives:
Until recently, communication between neighboring cells in islets of Langerhans was overlooked by genomic technologies, which require rigorous tissue dissociation into single cells.
Methods:
We utilize sorting of physically interacting cells (PICs) with single-cell RNA-sequencing to systematically map cellular interactions in the endocrine pancreas after pancreatectomy.
Results:
The pancreas cellular landscape features pancreatectomy associated heterogeneity of beta-cells, including an interaction-specific program between paired beta and delta-cells.
Conclusions:
Our analysis suggests that the particular cluster of beta-cells that pairs with delta-cells benefits from stress protection, implying that the interaction between beta- and delta-cells might safeguard against pancreatectomy associated challenges. The work encourages testing the potential relevance of physically-interacting beta-delta-cells also in diabetes mellitus.
