Activating transcription factor 6α governs stress-adaptive pancreatic β-cell mass expansion through the coordination of proliferation and survival

We have employed a single cell RNA sequencing analysis using 10x Genomics scRNA-seq to investigate the role of ATF6α in pancreatic β-cells under chronic metabolic stress.ATF6α initiates a key branch of the unfolded protein response and has been implicated in β-cell survival, apoptosis, insulin secretory function, and glucose homeostasis. This study provides new insights into how ATF6α coordinate stress-adaptative transcriptional networks of β-cells leading to β-cell mass expansion under chronic metabolic stress, that contributes to the better understanding of preservation strategy of functional β-cell mass in diabetes.