The role of microRNAs in islet β-cell development

Cell-based therapies suggest novel treatments to overcome the complication of the current therapeutic approaches in diabetes mellitus type 1. Replacement of the destroyed pancreatic islet beta-cells by appropriate alternative cells needs an efficient approach to differentiate the cells into viable and functional insulin producing cells. Small non-coding RNA molecules, microRNAs (miRNA), have critical roles in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Therefore, they can direct the cells toward beta-cell like cells and control islet beta-cell development. Previous reports showed the manipulation of the miRNA expression on islet beta-cell differentiation and regeneration. Likewise, the regulation of epithelial to mesenchymal transition by the miR-30 family and the miR-200 family may be a useful approach to conduct islet beta-cell development. Investigation of stem cells differentiation showed that the dynamic expression patterns of miR-375 and miR-7 are similar to developing human fetal pancreas while dynamic expression of miR-146a and miR-34a occurred during the differentiation. Moreover, miR-342 and its both targets, FOXA2 and MAFB, are found in beta-cell differentiation and maturation. Because miRNAs can target specific transcription factors during islet beta-cell development and differentiation, they could be offerred as alternative regenerative treatment for diabetes mellitus. Considering that the application of these non-coding RNAs remains limited in the literature, in this review article, we present an overview of the roles of miRNAs in the islet beta-cell development, focusing on the application of different miRNAs in the experimental protocols.