Research
Hormonal
In Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), functional impairment of beta cells occurs early in the prediabetic phase, whereas a substantial decrease in beta cell mass occurs late, close to clinical manifestation.
For T1D, preserving existing beta cell function early is as critical as replacing mass later. Treatments aiming to restore function (like those inducing the 'honeymoon phase') may be more effective if applied early, before massive cell death occurs.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
recent studies suggest that in type 1 and type 2 diabetes impairment of beta cell function is an early feature of disease pathogenesis while a substantial decrease in beta cell mass occurs more closely to clinical manifestation.
Why this rating
Based on a comprehensive review of multiple human studies and donor tissue analyses.
Source
Human beta cell mass and function in diabetes: Recent advances in knowledge and technologies to understand disease pathogenesis
Chunguang Chen et al. · Molecular Metabolism · 2017
DOI 10.1016/j.molmet.2017.06.019
narrative_reviewCited 494×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- In Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), beta cell functional impairment is an early predictor of disease progression, often preceding significant loss of beta cell mass.Good
- Beta cell dedifferentiation, where beta cells lose their identity and insulin production capability without dying, contributes to beta cell deficit in T2D.Moderate
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