Diabetes mellitus—advances and challenges in human β-cell proliferation

The treatment of diabetes mellitus represents one of the greatest medical challenges of our era. Diabetes results from a deficiency or functional impairment of insulin-producing β cells, alone or in combination with insulin resistance. It logically follows that the replacement or regeneration of β cells should reverse the progression of diabetes and, indeed, this seems to be the case in humans and rodents. This concept has prompted attempts in...