Abstract

Diabetes is one of the most challenging health concerns facing society. Available drugs treat the symptoms but there is no cure. This presents an urgent need to better understand human diabetes in order to develop improved treatments or target remission. New disease models need to be developed that more accurately describe the pathology of diabetes. Organoid technology provides an opportunity to fill this knowledge gap. Organoids are 3D structures, established from pluripotent stem cells or adult stem/progenitor cells, that recapitulate key aspects of the in vivo tissues they mimic. In this review we briefly introduce organoids and their benefits; we focus on organoids generated from tissues important for glucose homeostasis and tissues associated with diabetic complications. We hope this review serves as a touchstone to demonstrate how organoid technology extends the research toolbox and can deliver a step change of discovery in the field of diabetes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1093-1102
Number of pages10
JournalDiabetologia
Volume63
Issue number6
Early online date27 Mar 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2020

Keywords

  • 3D culture
  • Beta cells
  • Diabetes
  • Diabetic complications
  • Disease modelling
  • Glucose homeostasis
  • Obesity
  • Organoids
  • Review
  • Stem cells

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Diabetes through a 3D lens: organoid models'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this