Functional Genomics in Pancreatic β Cells: Recent Advances in Gene Deletion and Genome Editing Technologies for Diabetes Research
Summary
The inheritance of variants that lead to coding changes in, or the mis-expression of, genes critical to pancreatic beta cell function can lead to alterations in insulin secretion and increase the risk of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Recently developed clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) gene editing tools provide a powerful means of understanding the impact of identified variants on cell function, growth, and survival and might ultimately provide a means, most likely after the transplantation of genetically "corrected" cells, of treating the disease. Here, we review some of the disease-associated genes and variants whose roles have been probed up to now. Next, we survey recent exciting developments in CRISPR/Cas9 technology and their possible exploitation for β cell functional genomics. Finally, we will provide a perspective as to how CRISPR/Cas9 technology may find clinical application in patients with diabetes. Copyright © 2020 Hu, Cherkaoui, Misra and Rutter.
| Authors | Hu M, Cherkaoui I, Misra S, Rutter GA |
|---|---|
| Journal | Frontiers in endocrinology |
| Publication Date | 2020;11:576632 |
| PubMed | 33162936 |
| PubMed Central | PMC7580382 |
| DOI | 10.3389/fendo.2020.576632 |