Single-cell transcriptomics reveals a role for pancreatic duct cells as potential mediators of inflammation in diabetes mellitus

Overall, the findings of this study point towards a role for duct cells in the propagation of islet inflammation, and in immune cell recruitment and activation, which are key steps in the pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus.

Here, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to explore the cell type-specific molecular response of primary human pancreatic cells exposed to an inflammatory environment.

We identified a duct subpopulation presenting a unique proinflammatory signature among all pancreatic cell types.