The Spatial Landscape of Extracellular Matrix Gene Expression in Healthy and Type 2 Diabetic Human Pancreas
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The unique peri-islet and double-layered vascular basement membrane (BM) of the human pancreatic islet are critical regulators of beta cell survival and function. While animal models imply that endothelial cells (ECs) are the exclusive source of islet BM, the precise cellular origins and spatial organization of the human islet matrisome remain poorly defined due to overlap in genes that mark non-epithelial cell populations and loss of spatial context during single-cell dissociation. In this study, we combine computational integration of whole-pancreas single-cell transcriptomes using CONCORD with high-resolution MERFISH spatial genomics to map the extracellular matrix (ECM) landscape across 251,477 spatially resolved cells from seven non-diabetic and five type 2 diabetic human donors. Contrary to an endothelial-centric paradigm, our data support a cooperative division of labor in the provision of BM, where pericytes represent the dominant transcriptional source of structural BM collagens ( COL4A1 , COL4A2 ) and ECs selectively express complementary matrix factors ( HSPG2 , LAMA5 ). Spatial neighborhood analysis further resolves a specialized population of islet-associated fibroblasts enriched at the islet boundary that are characterized by expression of peri-islet laminin genes. In type 2 diabetes, this homeostatic perivascular niche changes composition, marked by a significant increase in the islet fibroblast-to-pericyte ratio. Concurrently, islet pericytes undergo pro-fibrotic reprogramming characterized by the loss of canonical identity markers ( PDGFRB ), altered expression of ECM genes including COL1A2 and COL18A1 , and upregulation of contractile machinery ( MYL9 ). In the non-diabetic pancreas, pericytes constitute the principal vascular BM-expressing population within islets, whereas type 2 diabetes is associated with coordinated, compartment-specific remodeling of vascular-supportive stromal populations.
Research in Context
What is already known about this subject?
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Extracellular matrix (ECM), and in particular basement membrane (BM), are essential structural and signaling components of the pancreatic islet microenvironment that contribute to beta cell function and survival.
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Islet capillaries are closely associated with endocrine cells and are surrounded by specialized BMs; however, the cellular sources of these BM components in the adult human pancreas remain incompletely defined.
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Type 2 diabetes is associated with islet fibrosis and vascular dysfunction, but cell type-specific alterations in ECM-producing populations have not been comprehensively characterized in situ .
What is the key question?
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Which cell populations produce the components of ECM, including BM, within the adult human islet, and how are these populations altered in type 2 diabetes?
What are the new findings?
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Spatial transcriptomics identifies pericytes as the predominant vascular-associated source of ECM, including BM, gene expression in human islets, whereas endothelial cells exhibit complementary but more limited matrix-producing programs.
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Spatial transcriptomics identifies an islet-associated fibroblast population enriched for fibrillar collagen and BM-associated genes that localizes preferentially to the islet surface niche.
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Type 2 diabetes is associated with remodeling of perivascular ECM programs, including reduced expression of vascular basement membrane genes, a shift from a pericyte to smooth muscle-like identity, and increased expression of matrix-remodeling and fibrosis-associated genes.
How might this impact clinical practice in the foreseeable future?
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Defining the cellular sources and disease-associated remodeling of the human islet ECM may inform the development of therapies aimed at preserving or restoring the islet microenvironment in type 2 diabetes.
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Including key subtypes of islet-associated ECM-producing cells may be important in improving current protocols to generate replacement islets from human pluripotent stem cells for cell replacement therapy for diabetes.
