Islets In Type 2 Diabetes: In Honor Of Dr. Robert C. Turner

摘要

The UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) orchestrated by Robert Turner showed that, even with treatment, in type 2 diabetes a progressive β-cell dysfunction in a large number of patients was seen with the eventual need for additional oral antihyperglycemic medication and even insulin treatment (1). Such a progression could be from a continued loss of β-cells, a progressive functional change, or from the combination of both. During the decades when type 2 diabetes was considered mainly a disease of insulin resistance, many older pathology studies that focused on the islets in diabetic pancreata were ignored. However, with the renewed appreciation of the role of the pancreatic β-cell in type 2 diabetes, new studies have focused on what happens to the β-cells in type 2 diabetes. This perspectives in diabetes article will present what we know and still need to know about the islets in type 2 diabetes.