IBBERSON M.

Pancreatic islet β-cell failure is key to the onset and progression of type 2 diabetes (T2D). The advent of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has opened the possibility to determine transcriptional signatures specifically relevant for T2D at the β-cell level. Yet, applications of this technique have been underwhelming, as three independent...

Marselli et al. find that human β cell dysfunction induced by metabolic stresses is persistent or transient. RNA sequencing and eQTL analysis identify key pathways underlying failure and recovery. Type 2 diabetes β cells have several functional and molecular alterations and share specific transcriptomic traits of β cells with irreversible or...