Gladys Teitelman, PhD

Cell Lineage and Differentiation of Insulin-Producing Cells During Embryonic Development and Pancreatic Islet Regeneration:

Blood glucose levels are regulated by insulin, the hormone synthesized by the B cells of the pancreas. Insulin producing cells are the most abundant cell types of the islets of Langerhans; the islets also contain smaller number of cells that produce other hormones. Because of the pivotal role of insulin in carbohydrate metabolism, destruction of the B cells leads to hyperglycemia and overt diabetes. Daily injections of insulin are required to circumvent the deleterious effects of the disease. To avoid daily exogenous insulin administration, it would be desirable to develop a source of insulin cells that can be used for transplantation. Mature B cells could be transplanted. This approach, however, has several disadvantages because mature S cells do not proliferate, are scarce and do not have a protracted life span. Our main objective is to develop a source of B cells that could be induced to proliferate and differentiate in vitro, thus proving a reliable source of transplantable insulin producing cells.

Our work, therefore, seeks to identify and isolate B precursor cells and characterize the signals that induce their proliferation and differentiation into mature, insulin producing cells.

• Guz, Y. and Teitelman, G. Islet regeneration in diabetic mice is regulated by circulating blood glucose levels. Submitted for publication.
• Teitelman, G., Guz, Y., Ivcovic S., Ehrlich M. (1998) Islet injury induced neurotrophin expression in pancreatic cells and reactive gliosis of periislat Schwann cells. Comparison of streptozotocin treated and NOD mice. J. of Neurobiology 34:304318.
• Martinez, A., Cuttita, F. and Teitelman, G. (1998) Expression pattern for adrenomedullin during pancreatic development in the rat reveals a common precursor with other endocrine cell types. Cell and Tissue Research 293:95100.
• Fernandes, A., King, L. C., Guz, Y., Stein, R., Wright, C. V. E. and Teitelman, G. (1997) Differentiation of new insulin producing cells is induced by injury in adult pancreatic islets. Endocrinology 138:17501762.

List of Publications (Pub Med)

• The American Diabetes Association $99,700 ; 7/1/97 6/30/99, P.I. Gladys Teitelman
  Title: B cell regeneration in young posstnatal mice. Resign after one year due to partial overlap with NIH grant.
• National Institute of Health $308,969 ; 6/1/98 5/31/01, P.I. Gladys Teitelman
  Title: Regeneration of pancreatic beta cells.
• Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International $198,893.22. 10/1/98 9/30/00
  Title: Induction of PDX1, an insuline gene transcription factor, during pregnancy. Possible role of pregnancy hormones.