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Thyroid hormone (TH) has contrasting actions in different tissues, with roles in both the development and the ageing processes.

Aguayo-Mazzucato et al. showed that, in addition to driving the maturation of pancreatic β-cells, TH also has a dichotomous effect on β-cell ageing. Both processes can occur simultaneously via different TH receptor (THR) isoforms: THRB1 for maturation via Mafa and THRA via the Cdkn2a gene.

These findings are key in light of recent protocols for human embryonic stem cell-derived insulin-positive cells, which use TH to induce maturation. Importantly, initial findings from the authors suggest that specific THR agonists could be used to optimise the final functional maturation step without compromising the ability of these cells to respond to the necessary growth factors.

Read the full article in Diabetes 67 1322–1331