TY - JOUR T1 - Islet Gene View—a tool to facilitate islet research JF - Life Science Alliance JO - Life Sci. Alliance DO - 10.26508/lsa.202201376 VL - 5 IS - 12 SP - e202201376 AU - Olof Asplund AU - Petter Storm AU - Vikash Chandra AU - Gad Hatem AU - Emilia Ottosson-Laakso AU - Dina Mansour-Aly AU - Ulrika Krus AU - Hazem Ibrahim AU - Emma Ahlqvist AU - Tiinamaija Tuomi AU - Erik Renström AU - Olle Korsgren AU - Nils Wierup AU - Mark Ibberson AU - Michele Solimena AU - Piero Marchetti AU - Claes Wollheim AU - Isabella Artner AU - Hindrik Mulder AU - Ola Hansson AU - Timo Otonkoski AU - Leif Groop AU - Rashmi B Prasad Y1 - 2022/12/01 UR - https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/5/12/e202201376.abstract N2 - Characterization of gene expression in pancreatic islets and its alteration in type 2 diabetes (T2D) are vital in understanding islet function and T2D pathogenesis. We leveraged RNA sequencing and genome-wide genotyping in islets from 188 donors to create the Islet Gene View (IGW) platform to make this information easily accessible to the scientific community. Expression data were related to islet phenotypes, diabetes status, other islet-expressed genes, islet hormone-encoding genes and for expression in insulin target tissues. The IGW web application produces output graphs for a particular gene of interest. In IGW, 284 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in T2D donor islets compared with controls. Forty percent of DEGs showed cell-type enrichment and a large proportion significantly co-expressed with islet hormone-encoding genes; glucagon (GCG, 56%), amylin (IAPP, 52%), insulin (INS, 44%), and somatostatin (SST, 24%). Inhibition of two DEGs, UNC5D and SERPINE2, impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and impacted cell survival in a human β-cell model. The exploratory use of IGW could help designing more comprehensive functional follow-up studies and serve to identify therapeutic targets in T2D. ER -