The establishment of multipotent pancreas progenitors (MPP) should have a significant impact not only on the ontology of the pancreas, but also for the translational research of glucose-responding endocrine β-cells. Deficiency of the latter may lead to the pandemic type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disorder. An ideal treatment of which would potentially be the replacement of destroyed or failed β-cells, by restoring function of endogenous pancreatic endocrine cells or by transplantation of donor islets or in vitro generated insulin-secreting cells. Thus, considerable research efforts have been devoted to identify MPP candidates in the pre- and post-natal pancreas for the endogenous neogenesis or regeneration of endocrine insulin-secreting cells. In order to advance this inconclusive but critical field, we here review the emerging concepts, recent literature and newest developments of potential MPP and propose measures that would assist its forward progression.

中文翻译：

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多能胰腺祖细胞：尚无定论，但至关重要的话题。

多能胰腺祖细胞（MPP）的建立不仅对胰腺本体有重要影响，而且对葡萄糖反应性内分泌β细胞的翻译研究也将产生重大影响。后者的缺乏可能导致1型或2型大流行性糖尿病，即一种代谢性疾病。理想的治疗方法可能是通过恢复内源性胰腺内分泌细胞的功能或移植供体胰岛或体外产生的胰岛素分泌细胞来替代受损或衰竭的β细胞。因此，已经进行了大量的研究工作来鉴定出生前和出生后胰腺中的MPP候选物，用于内分泌胰岛素分泌细胞的内源性新生或再生。为了推进这个尚无定论但很关键的领域，