Jornal de Biomarcadores Moleculares e Diagnóstico

The Role of Reg Proteins in Pancreatic Regeneration

Abstract

Zhenhua He

Diabetes mellitus is a widespread disease which an estimated 285 million people in the world suffer from, and these numbers are on the rise making it one of the largest threats to human health in the coming decades. Early research has shown that restoration of the β cell mass by either stimulating β cell replication or β cell neogenesis may be a viable strategy in diabetes therapy. Some proteins such as the INGAP (hamster Reg3delta) have been shown to be involved in β cell regeneration and therefore may be potential sources of new drugs for diabetes treatment. The INGAP protein and peptide as well as other members of the Reg3 family of proteins such as HIP (human Reg3alpha/β) have been shown to have an effect on β cell regeneration, however this effect as well as their mechanism of action in the pancreas is unclear. This review described current knowledge about the mechanism of action and activity of INGAP and other members of the Reg3 family of proteins in β cell regeneration.