Research
Hormonal
In Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), beta cell functional impairment is an early predictor of disease progression, often preceding significant loss of beta cell mass.
In T2D, restoring beta cell function (e.g., through weight loss or bariatric surgery) can reverse diabetes rapidly, often before any significant change in beta cell mass occurs. Focus on functional recovery.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
functional changes such as the acute insulin response to glucose have been described as an early predictor of the transition from normal glucose tolerance to impaired glucose tolerance [117].
Why this rating
Supported by multiple longitudinal and cross-sectional studies cited in the review.
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 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.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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