The Pancreas in Health and in Diabetes
2020’s special issue puts the spotlight on the pancreas and its role in health and in diabetes. With discussions on the anatomy of the whole pancreas to the role of the individual cellular components and their intra- and intercellular interactions, this series of reviews aims to provide an in-depth overview of what we know about this important organ and what we are yet to discover. Topics include: insulin production and diabetes-associated abnormalities; beta cells as autoimmune targets; functional changes in the ageing beta cell; pancreas/islet/beta cell transplant strategies; alpha cell–beta cell communication; the islet microenvironment and endocrine cell function; central nervous system control of the endocrine pancreas; and approaches to connect molecular profiles with functional properties underlying insulin secretion.

The pancreas in health and in diabetes
Sally M. Marshall
Organisation of the human pancreas in health and in diabetes
Mark A. Atkinson, Martha Campbell-Thompson, Irina Kusmartseva & Klaus H. Kaestner
Transcription factors that shape the mammalian pancreas
Rachel E. Jennings, Raphael Scharfmann & Willem Staels
The making of insulin in health and disease
Jovana Vasiljević, Juha M. Torkko, Klaus-Peter Knoch & Michele Solimena
Metabolic and functional specialisations of the pancreatic beta cell: gene disallowance, mitochondrial metabolism and intercellular connectivity
Guy A. Rutter, Eleni Georgiadou, Aida Martinez-Sanchez & Timothy J. Pullen
Presumption of innocence for beta cells: why are they vulnerable autoimmune targets in type 1 diabetes?
Roberto Mallone & Decio L. Eizirik
Early beta cell dysfunction vs insulin hypersecretion as the primary event in the pathogenesis of dysglycaemia
Nathalie Esser, Kristina M. Utzschneider & Steven E. Kahn
Functional changes in beta cells during ageing and senescence
Cristina Aguayo-Mazzucato
A tale of two pancreases: exocrine pathology and endocrine dysfunction
Michael R. Rickels, Andrew W. Norris & Rebecca L. Hull
The clinical consequences of heterogeneity within and between different diabetes types
Maria J. Redondo, William A. Hagopian, Richard Oram, Andrea K. Steck, Kendra Vehik, Michael Weedon, Ashok Balasubramanyam & Dana Dabelea
Transplant strategies for type 1 diabetes: whole pancreas, islet and porcine beta cell therapies
Melena D. Bellin & Ty B. Dunn
Paracrine regulation of insulin secretion
Mark O. Huising
Alpha cell regulation of beta cell function
Tilo Moede, Ingo B. Leibiger & Per-Olof Berggren
Beta cell dysfunction in diabetes: the islet microenvironment as an unusual suspect
Joana Almaça, Alejandro Caicedo & Limor Landsman
CNS control of the endocrine pancreas
Chelsea L. Faber, Jennifer D. Deem, Carlos A. Campos, Gerald J. Taborsky Jr. & Gregory J. Morton