Detailed characterization of human pancreatic islets is key to elucidating the pathophysiology of all forms of diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes. However, access to human pancreatic islets is limited. Pancreatic tissue for islet retrieval can be obtained from brain-dead organ donors or from individuals undergoing pancreatectomy, often referred to as ‘living donors’. Different protocols for human islet procurement can substantially impact islet function. This variability, coupled with heterogeneity between individuals and islets, results in analytical challenges to separate genuine disease pathology or differences between human donors from experimental noise. There are currently no international guidelines for human donor phenotyping, islet procurement and functional characterization. This lack of standardization means that substantial investments from multiple international efforts towards improved understanding of diabetes pathology cannot be fully leveraged. In this Perspective, we overview the status of the field of human islet research, highlight the challenges and propose actions that could accelerate research progress and increase understanding of type 2 diabetes to slow its pandemic spreading.

人类胰岛的详细表征是阐明所有形式糖尿病（尤其是 2 型糖尿病）病理生理学的关键。然而，获取人类胰岛的机会有限。用于胰岛检索的胰腺组织可以从脑死亡器官捐献者或接受胰腺切除术的个体（通常称为“活体捐献者”）获得。人类胰岛采购的不同方案可以极大地影响胰岛功能。这种变异性，加上个体和胰岛之间的异质性，导致将真正的疾病病理学或人类捐赠者之间的差异与实验噪音区分开来的分析挑战。目前尚无人类供体表型分析、胰岛获取和功能表征的国际指南。标准化的缺乏意味着无法充分利用多项国际努力为增进对糖尿病病理学的了解而进行的大量投资。在本视角中，我们概述了人类胰岛研究领域的现状，强调了挑战，并提出了可以加速研究进展并增加对 2 型糖尿病的了解以减缓其大流行传播的行动。