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Advances in the regulation of pancreatic islet β-cell identity plasticity by exercise in type 2 diabetes mellitus

YAO Ke, JIA Nan-Nan, CHU Hang, SUN Jing-Yu^*

Sports and Health Research Center, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

Abstract

Loss of pancreatic islet β-cell identity is considered to be one of the major factors for impaired insulin secretion in diabetes mellitus. Pancreatic islet β-cell identity plasticity and the regulatory mechanisms of related factors have attracted attention, and endogenous pancreatic islet β-cell property switching induced by related factors may become a new strategy for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Studies on the regulation of pancreatic islet β-cells by exercise have mostly focused on improving islet morphology and promoting islet β-cell proliferation, and there is a lack of systematic exploration of the possible mechanisms by which exercise restores the properties of pancreatic islet β-cells in the setting of T2DM. This article reviewed the importance of pancreatic islet β- cell plasticity in the occurrence, progression and treatment of T2DM. From the perspectives of transcription factors and exerkines, the article further explored the pathways through which exercise regulated the pancreatic islet β-cell identity plasticity. Future studies need to explore how the secretion of exerkines precisely regulates the expression of pancreatic islet β-cell-specific transcription factors under different exercise scenarios, so as to further analyze the response mechanism of exercise to pancreatic islet β-cell identity plasticity, with a view to providing new therapeutic targets and research ideas for exercise intervention in diabetes mellitus.

Key words: type 2 diabetes mellitus; exercise; pancreatic islet β-cells; de-differentiation; trans-differentiation

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 孙婧瑜　　E-mail:

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2025.0099

Citing This Article：

YAO Ke, JIA Nan-Nan, CHU Hang, SUN Jing-Yu. Advances in the regulation of pancreatic islet β-cell identity plasticity by exercise in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Acta Physiol Sin 2025; 77 (6): 1086-1100 (in Chinese with English abstract).