News Finding: With those cell lines, the researchers at CeMM where now able to test their compound library and found artemisinins to have the same effect as an Arx loss.
Paper Finding: These data imply that maintaining the correct concentration of glucagon in close vicinity to a cells is critical for the stability of this cell type.
News Context: They proved that loss of Arx is sufficient to confer alpha cell identity and does not depend on the body's influence. With those cell lines, the researchers at CeMM where now able to test their compound library and found artemisinins to have the same effect as an Arx loss. "Obviously, the long term effect of artemisinins needs to be tested," says Stefan Kubicek.
Paper Context: Interestingly, supplementing recombinant glucagon abolished the effect of artemether on insulin induction ( Figure 4B ). These data imply that maintaining the correct concentration of glucagon in close vicinity to a cells is critical for the stability of this cell type. Treatment of aTC1 cells with this compound resulted in a dramatic increase of intracellular glucagon staining, consistent with the accumulation of unprocessed proglucagon ( Figure 4C ).