Regenerative Therapy of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: From Pancreatic Islet Transplantation to Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Table 1

Factors involved in beta-cell differentiation.

Compound	Role in beta-cell differentiation
High glucose	Increases beta-cell replication
Activin A	Promotes beta-cell regeneration and increases cell mass
N2 and B27 supplements	Act as serum supplements in serum-free medium
FGF2	Is important in early stage differentiation
EGF	Accelerates beta-cell proliferation and supports final stages of insulin expression
Beta-cellulin	Promotes beta-cell regeneration and increases cell mass
HGF	Induces beta-cell formation, especially in combination with activin A
RA	Induces endocrine and ductal differentiation and induces insulin-positive differentiation
GLP-1	Accelerates maturation of beta-cells towards glucose responsive insulin secretion
Exendin-4	Accelerates maturation of beta-cells towards glucose responsive insulin secretion
Pentagastrin	Expands beta-cell mass in combination with other factors