Type i diabetes results from the autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells. Although islet transplantation has shown great potential in the treatment of hyperglycemia in type 1 diabetes patients, availability of donor islets remains a major obstacle (4). Cell replacement strategies aimed at generating functional insulin-producing cells through differentiation of adult pancreatic stem cells/ progenitors have been hindered by a lack of suitable markers for their identification.
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