Beyond the loss of beta cells: a quantitative analysis of islet architecture in adults with and without type 1 diabetes
Authors' conclusion
Using a novel analysis pipeline, statistical evidence supports the existence of an M-C structure in human adult islets, irrespective of type 1 diabetes status. The methods presented in the current study offer potential applications in spatial biology, islet immunopathology, transplantation and organoid research, and developmental research.
Study context
- Population
- Adult human pancreatic sections; >250,000 endocrine cells in >3500 islets from ten individuals>3,500 islets
- Participants
- 10 participants
- Comparison
- Islet architecture in T1D vs donors without diabetes; observed islets vs randomly arranged digital siblings
- Outcome
- Association between cell position (mantle/core) and cell type (beta/non-beta)
Methodological detailsquantitative image analysis, automated QuPath pipeline, machine learning
- Quantitative image analysis
- Automated QuPath pipeline
- Machine learning
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Significant relationship between cell position and type (χ2 test)
- p<0.001
- OR; non-beta cells more likely at the mantle (and vice versa)
- OR <0.8
- Earth mover's distance (EMD) between r-value distributions of observed islets and digital siblings (0<emd-1d<1); substantial group of islets with small r, supporting mantle-core (M-C) hypothesis
- emd-1d=0.10951
Further findings
| Outcome | EMD |
|---|---|
| Bidimensional distribution (beta cell fraction vs size) of islets, control vs T1D0<emd-2d<2 | 0.285 |
Original publication
Beyond the loss of beta cells: a quantitative analysis of islet architecture in adults with and without type 1 diabetes. Diabetologia. Published 26 February 2025. doi:10.
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