Islet Specific Wnt Activation in Human Type II Diabetes

Figure 5

β-catenin is upregulated in islets from type II diabetic patients. Insulin (a) and (c) and β-catenin (b) and (d) are inverely expressed in the pancreas of type II diabetic patients (a)–(d). Islets with weak insulin expression (solid lines) had the highest levels of β-catenin and islets with strong insulin expression (dashed lines) had levels of β-catenin intermediate between the weak insulin expressing islets and islets from nondiabetic individuals. Quantitation of β-catenin expression in β-cells from nondiabetic and type II diabetic individuals with strong (S) and weak (W) insulin staining (e). Insulin staining of weak islets was 3.5-fold less intense than in islets with strong insulin staining. More than 200 islets were examined (𝑃<.05). Amylase (red in (f)) and insulin (green in (g)) colocalized in weak insulin-expressing islets in type II diabetes (solid line) but not in high insulin expressing islets (dashed line) (merged in (h)). Weak insulin expressing islets (marked with solid lines) retained PDX-1 expression (red in (i)) but lost γ-catenin ((j) and (k), islet with strong insulin marked with arrowheads). Weak insulin expressing islets (solid line) contained normal glucagon expressing cells that did not express amylase (l). Scale bars: 50 𝜇m. All images are confocal.