Methods of isolating distinct pancreatic cell types

1. A method of isolating an enriched population of at least one distinct type of pancreatic cells from cells of human adult islets of Langerhans, the method comprising sorting the cells using a combination of at least two cell-surface markers relevant to the cell type to be isolated, wherein the at least one distinct type of cells is selected from the group consisting of: beta cells and delta cells, and wherein one of the at least two cell-surface markers is CD9 and the cell isolation is for an enriched population of cells expressing high levels of the cell-surface marker CD9.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said sorting using said combination of at least two cell-surface markers is effected sequentially and the cell-surface marker CD9 is the first marker used for isolation.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

i. obtaining said cells of human adult islets of Langerhans from recovered or extracted pancreatic tissue;

ii. exposing the cells obtained in (i) to a probe capable of identifying CD9+ cells and to at least one additional probe; and

iii. isolating cells expressing CD9 and the additional probe by sorting of cells, thereby isolating an enriched population of at least one distinct cell type selected from the group consisting of: beta cells and delta cells.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cells are isolated using a combination of CD9 and at least one cell-surface marker selected from the group consisting of: CD56, EGFR, CD4, CD73, CD87, CCR4, CD165, CD85J, CD221, CD153 (CD30L), CD142, CD134, ITGB7, CD68, WNT16, CD18−, CD6, CD77−, CD61, and CD32.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said sorting is performed with anti CD9 and anti CD56 antibodies, wherein said anti-CD9 and said anti-CD56 are used for positive selection.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said sorting is performed with anti-CD9 and anti-EGFR antibodies, wherein said anti-CD9 is used for positive selection and said anti-EGFR is used for negative selection.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the at least one additional probe is capable of identifying a cell-surface marker selected from the group consisting of: CD4 (NP_000607.1), CD73 (NP_001191742.1, CD87 (NP_002650.1), CCR4 (NP_005499.1), CD165 (Gene ID 23449), CD85J (NP_001075106.1), CD221 (NP_000866.1), CD153 (CD30L) (NP_001235.1), CD142 (NP_001171567.1), CD134 (NP_003318.1), ITGB7 (NP_000880.1), CD68 (NP_001035148.1), WNT16 (NP_057171.2), CD18 (NP_000202.2), CD6 (NP_001241679.1), CD77 (NP_059132.1), CD61 (NP_000203.2), and CD32 (NP_001002273.1).

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the enriched cells of the population of at least one distinct cell type selected from the group consisting of: beta cells and delta cells are subject to additional iterations of steps (ii)-(iii).

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein the sorting of the enriched cells of the population of at least one distinct cell type selected from the group consisting of: beta cells and delta cells (iii) is performed via fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS).

10. A method for identifying cell-surface marker combinations suitable of purifying an enriched population of insulin-producing beta cells within pancreatic tissue, the method comprising the steps of:

i. obtaining a heterogeneous population of cells selected from a group consisting of cells recovered or extracted from pancreatic tissue, committed lineages of stem cells and cultures of differentiated stem cells;

ii. isolating CD9+ cells from the cells obtained in (i);

iii. applying the CD9+ cells of (ii) to an array comprising antibodies against cell-surface markers, wherein said antibodies are attached on said array;

iv. fixing, permeabilizing and immunostaining the bound cells of (iii) with antibodies against insulin, thereby identifying antibody stained loci enriched for beta cells; and

v. determining the cell-surface markers of the loci enriched for beta cells in (iv).

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the heterogeneous population of cells comprises one or more of pancreatic exocrine cells, pancreatic endocrine cells and non-pancreatic cells.

12. A method of isolating at least one distinct type of cells from a heterogeneous population of cells recovered or extracted from pancreatic tissue, the method comprising sorting the cells using a combination of cell-surface markers CD9 and CD56, wherein the at least one distinct type of cells is selected from the group consisting of: insulin-secreting beta cells or beta cell progenitors, somatostatin-secreting delta cells, glucagon secreting alpha cells and trypsin-secreting exocrine cells.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein glucagon-secreting alpha cells are isolated using a combination of the cell-surface markers CD9 and CD56, wherein the CD9 marker is used for negative selection and the CD56 marker is used for positive selection.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein trypsin-secreting acinar cells are isolated using a combination of the cell surface markers CD9 and CD56, wherein both markers are used for negative selection.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein said sorting is performed with anti CD9 and anti CD56 antibodies, wherein said anti-CD9 and said anti-CD56 are used for positive selection.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the heterogeneous population of cells is selected from the group consisting of cells recovered or extracted from pancreatic tissue, committed lineages of stem cells and cultures of differentiated stem cells.

17. A method of isolating at least one distinct type of cells from a heterogeneous population of cells recovered or extracted from pancreatic tissue, the method comprising sorting the cells using a combination of cell-surface markers CD9 and EGFR, wherein the at least one distinct type of cells is selected from the group consisting of: insulin-secreting beta cells or beta cell progenitors, somatostatin-secreting delta cells, glucagon secreting alpha cells and trypsin-secreting exocrine cells.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein said sorting is performed with anti CD9 and anti EGFR antibodies, wherein said anti-CD9 is used for a positive selection and wherein said anti EGFR is used for a negative selection.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the heterogeneous population of cells is selected from the group consisting of cells recovered or extracted from pancreatic tissue, committed lineages of stem cells and cultures of differentiated stem cells.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein said sorting is performed with anti CD9 and antibody selected from the group consisting of anti CD49B, anti EGFR and anti CD44, wherein said anti CD9 is for negative selection and wherein each of said anti CD49B, anti EGFR and anti CD44 is for positive selection.

21. A method of isolating at least one distinct type of cells from a heterogeneous population of cells recovered or extracted from pancreatic tissue, the method comprising sorting the cells using a combination of at least the following cell-surface markers selected from the group consisting of:

(i) CD9 and CD73,

(ii) CD9 and CD221,

(iii) CD9 and CD81,

(iv) CD9 and CD147,

(v) CD9 and CD49B,

(vi) CD9 and CD44,

(vii) CD9 and CD142,

(viii) CD9 and CD18,

(ix) CD9 and CD134,

(x) CD9 and CD4, and

(xi) CD9 and ITGB7,

wherein the at least one distinct type of cells is selected from the group consisting of: insulin-secreting beta cells or beta cell progenitors, somatostatin-secreting delta cells, glucagon secreting alpha cells and trypsin-secreting exocrine cells.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein said CD9 is for positive selection.

23. The method of claim 21 , further comprising sorting the cells using the CD56 cell surface marker.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein said CD56 is for positive selection.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein each of said CD9, said CD73, said CD73, said CD221, said CD81, and said CD147 is for positive selection.

26. The method of claim 21 , wherein each of said CD49B, said CD44, said CD142, said CD18, said CD134, said CD4 and said ITGB7 is for negative selection.

27. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

(a) obtaining said cells of human adult islets of Langerhans from recovered or extracted pancreatic tissue;

(b) exposing the cells obtained in (a) to a probe capable of identifying CD9− cells and to at least one additional probe; and

(c) isolating CD9− cells which express the additional probe by sorting, thereby isolating an enriched population of at least one distinct cell type selected from the group consisting of: alpha cells and exocrine cells.

28. The method of claim 27 , wherein when said additional probe is CD56, then the resulting isolated cells are enriched for said alpha cells.

29. The method of claim 27 , wherein when said additional probe is selected from the group consisting of EGFR, CD44 and CD49b, then the resulting isolated cells are enriched for said exocrine cells.

30. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

(a) obtaining said cells of human adult islets of Langerhans from recovered or extracted pancreatic tissue;

(b) exposing the cells obtained in (a) to a probe capable of identifying CD9− cells and to at least one additional probe; and

(c) isolating CD9− cells which do not express the additional probe by sorting, thereby isolating an enriched population of at least one distinct cell type selected from the group consisting of: alpha cells and exocrine cells.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein when said additional probe is CD56, then the resulting isolated cells are enriched for said exocrine cells.

32. The method of claim 30 , wherein when said additional probe is selected from the group consisting of: EGFR, CD44 and CD49b, then the resulting isolated cells are enriched for said alpha cells.