Quantitative-Proteomic Comparison of Alpha and Beta Cells to Uncover Novel Targets for Lineage Reprogramming

Type-1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease in which insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells are destroyed by the immune system. An emerging strategy to regenerate beta-cell mass is through transdifferentiation of pancreatic alpha cells to beta cells. We previously reported two small molecules, B...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Choudhary, Amit, Hu He, Kaihui, Mertins, Philipp, Udeshi, Namrata D., Dancik, Vlado, Fomina-Yadlin, Dina, Kubicek, Stefan, Clemons, Paul A., Schreiber, Stuart L., Wagner, Bridget K., Carr, Steven A
Other Authors: Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Public Library of Science 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88043
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7203-4299
Description
Summary:Type-1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease in which insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells are destroyed by the immune system. An emerging strategy to regenerate beta-cell mass is through transdifferentiation of pancreatic alpha cells to beta cells. We previously reported two small molecules, BRD7389 and GW8510, that induce insulin expression in a mouse alpha cell line and provide a glimpse into potential intermediate cell states in beta-cell reprogramming from alpha cells. These small-molecule studies suggested that inhibition of kinases in particular may induce the expression of several beta-cell markers in alpha cells. To identify potential lineage reprogramming protein targets, we compared the transcriptome, proteome, and phosphoproteome of alpha cells, beta cells, and compound-treated alpha cells. Our phosphoproteomic analysis indicated that two kinases, BRSK1 and CAMKK2, exhibit decreased phosphorylation in beta cells compared to alpha cells, and in compound-treated alpha cells compared to DMSO-treated alpha cells. Knock-down of these kinases in alpha cells resulted in expression of key beta-cell markers. These results provide evidence that perturbation of the kinome may be important for lineage reprogramming of alpha cells to beta cells.