Fig. 1

Stepwise differentiation of pancreatic β cells from human pluripotent stem cells. A Pancreatic islets are derived from the definitive endoderm, which is specified during gastrulation and then forms the primitive gut tube. During the development from the foregut to the pancreatic endoderm, pancreatic buds consisting of pancreatic progenitor cells emerge from the dorsal and ventral sides of the posterior foregut, following that the pancreatic epithelium expands and differentiates into endocrine progenitor cells, which finally give rise to β cells. B Through mimicking in vivo pancreatic development, human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are differentiated stepwise into pancreatic lineage and eventually to generate β cells. DE: Definitive Endoderm; PGT: Primitive Gut Tube; PF: Posterior Foregut; PE: Pancreatic Endoderm; EP: Endocrine Precursor