Transcriptome (RNA-seq) analysis of human salivary gland cells with exogenous expression of human pancreas beta cells transcription factors PDX1, MAFA, NGN3

Treatment of diabetes patients with exogenously administered insulin linked with burdensome for patients and the possibility of fallible doses. The development of cell technologies providing new sources of beta-cells represents an attractive therapeutic strategy to treat patients with diabetes. One of the promising technologies is reprogramming the cells by target changes in transcript factors regulating beta-cells development and differentiation. In this study we used transduction with lentivirus particles carrying a cassette for PDX1, MAFA and NGN3 expression (or all three at once) and GFP cassette as a control. We have chosen salivary gland (SGC) and HuTu80 as initial cell lines for reprogramming into beta-cells. The results were analyzed by RNAseq (Illumina HiSeq 4000). A total of 195 and 385 mRNA genes appeared to be differentially expressed in SGC and HuTu80, accordingly. The analysis of significant pathways revealed changes in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton, which can play a crucial role in the reprogramming into beta-cells.