Studies on diabetes have long been hampered by a lack of authentic disease models that, ideally, should be unlimited and able to recapitulate the abnormalities involved in the development, structure, and function of human pancreatic islets under pathological conditions. Stem cell-based islet organoids faithfully recapitulate islet development in vitro and provide large amounts of three-dimensional functional islet biomimetic materials with a morphological structure and cellular composition similar to those of native islets. Thus, islet organoids hold great promise for modeling islet development and function, deciphering the mechanisms underlying the onset of diabetes, providing an in vitro human organ model for infection of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, and contributing to drug screening and autologous islet transplantation. However, the currently established islet organoids are generally immature compared with native islets, and further efforts should be made to improve the heterogeneity and functionality of islet organoids, making it an authentic and informative disease model for diabetes. Here, we review the advances and challenges in the generation of islet organoids, focusing on human pluripotent stem cell-derived islet organoids, and the potential applications of islet organoids as disease models and regenerative therapies for diabetes.

长期以来，由于缺乏真实的疾病模型，糖尿病研究一直受到阻碍，理想情况下，这些模型应该是无限的，并且能够概括在病理条件下人类胰岛的发育、结构和功能所涉及的异常。基于干细胞的胰岛类器官忠实地概括了胰岛的体外发育，并提供了大量具有与天然胰岛相似的形态结构和细胞组成的三维功能性胰岛仿生材料。因此，胰岛类器官在模拟胰岛发育和功能、破译糖尿病发病机制、提供体外用于感染 SARS-CoV-2 等病毒的人体器官模型，有助于药物筛选和自体胰岛移植。然而，目前建立的胰岛类器官与天然胰岛相比普遍不成熟，应进一步努力提高胰岛类器官的异质性和功能性，使其成为糖尿病的真实和信息丰富的疾病模型。在这里，我们回顾了胰岛类器官产生的进展和挑战，重点关注人类多能干细胞衍生的胰岛类器官，以及胰岛类器官作为疾病模型和糖尿病再生疗法的潜在应用。