Induction of apoptosis of Beta cells of the pancreas by advanced glycation end-products, important mediators of chronic complications of diabetes mellitus.

We herein report cytotoxicity of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) on pancreatic beta cells. AGEs stimulated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation but did not arrest proliferation of the INS-1 cell line. Pancreatic beta cell lines or primary cultured islets possess a receptor for AGE (RAGE), and its expression increased after AGE treatment.

TGFbeta plasmid construction and delivery for the prevention of type 1 diabetes.

Studies of animals with spontaneous autoimmune diabetes have revealed that autoreactive T cells that mediate islet beta cell destruction can be manipulated by the administration of Th(2) cytokines. Using gene delivery to express the targeted protein, we can overcome the need for frequent administration of cytokines on account of their short half-lives. In this study, the effect of hTGFbeta gene delivery was evaluated both in vitro and in vivo using an adenovirus vector (Ad) constructed with an hTGFbeta cDNA.