| 摘要 |
The present invention provides agents for proliferating pancreatic beta -cells of Langerhans' islets, agents for suppressing apoptosis of the cells , and methods of screening for candidate compounds for these agents. The combined use of an inflammatory mediator IL-6 and glucocorticoid remarkably induces the expression of Reg gene in beta cells and thus promotes proliferation of beta cells. HGF suppresses apoptosis induced by Reg protein and IL-6 and glucocorticoid induce intracellular expression of HGF gene. PARP inhibitors such as nicotinamide and 3-aminobenzamide further enhance the induction of the expression of these genes. Moreover, based on the analysis of the expression induction mechanism using the promoter regions of Reg gene and HGF gene, methods of efficiently screening for candidate compounds for these gene expression inducers have been developed. |
