Testosterone Improves The Differentiation Efficiency Of Insulin-Producing Cells From Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) may provide potential resource for regenerative medicine research, including generation of insulin-producing cells for diabetes research and insulin production. Testosterone (T) is an androgen hormone which promotes protein synthesis and improves the management of type 2 diabetes in clinical studies. Concurrently, co-existed hyperandrogenism and hyperinsulinism is frequently observed in polycystic ovary syndrome, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and some of Wermer's syndrome. However, the relationship among androgens, insulin and the differentiation of pancreatic beta cells is still not fully clear. Here we find that T improves the differentiation efficiency of insulin- producing cells from hiPSCs. The addition of T into routine differentiation formula for pancreatic beta cells increases the differentiation efficiency from 12% to 35%. The administration of T promotes the expression of key genes associated with beta cells differentiation including NGN3, NEUROD1 and INS. This finding benefits the ongoing process to optimize the differentiation protocol of pancreatic beta cells from hiPSCs, and provides some degree of understanding the clinical management of T for type 2 diabetes.