Advances and challenges in the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into pancreatic β cells

Figure 1 Schematic representation of the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into pancreatic β cells. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) can be differentiated in vitro into pancreatic β cells after a step-wise differentiation protocol into definitive endoderm (DE), pancreatic progenitors (PP), pancreatic endocrine (PE) progenitors, and β cells. Transplantation of pancreatic progenitors derived from PSCs into immune-compromised mice induces their differentiation into glucose responsive pancreatic β cells (mature β cells). During pancreatic β cell differentiation, specific transcription factors are expressed at different stages. PDX1: Pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 gene; NGN3: Neurogenin 3; OCT4: Octamer-binding transcription factor 4; SOX: SRY (sex determining region Y)-box 2; FOXA2: Forkhead box protein A2; BMP: Bone morphogenetic protein; GLUT2: Glucose transporter 2.