Date of Award
2011
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program
Physiology
Supervisor
Dr. Cheryle Séguin
Abstract
Diabetes is becoming increasingly prevalent in North America, highlighting the necessity to create a renewable source of pancreatic P-cells for therapeutic purposes. The current study was undertaken to explore the hypothesis that ectopic expression of lineage determining transcription factors could generate a source of proliferative, homogenous pancreatic progenitor cells capable of subsequent differentiation to functional endocrine cell types, including P-cells. We validated transgenic systems for transgene delivery in HESC and subsequently generated and analyzed gene expression patterns in transgenic cell populations engineered to constitutively express pancreatic transcription factors PAX4, PDX1, or NGN3. We demonstrate that ectopic expression of either PAX4 or PDX1 is not sufficient to specify pancreatic cells from human embryonic stem cells or definitive endoderm cells. In contrast, ectopic NGN3 expression specifies pancreatic endocrine cells from definitive endoderm. In conclusion, this study provides proof of principle of the ability to generate pancreatic endocrine cells using transcription factor overexpression in human embryonic stem cells
Recommended Citation
Watts, Nicole Marie, "DIRECTED DIFFERENTIATION OF HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS TO PANCREATIC ENDOCRINE PROGENITORS" (2011). Digitized Theses. 3341.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/3341