Retinoid X receptors (RXRs) are members of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily and are thought to be key regulators in differentiation, cellular growth, and gene expression. Although several experiments using pancreatic β-cell lines have shown that the ligands of nuclear hormone receptors modulate insulin secretion, it is not clear whether RXRs have any role in insulin secretion.

To elucidate the function of RXRs in pancreatic β-cells, we generated a double-transgenic mouse in which a dominant-negative form of RXRβ was inducibly expressed in pancreatic β-cells using the Tet-On system. We also established a pancreatic β-cell line from an insulinoma caused by the β-cell–specific expression of simian virus 40 T antigen in the above transgenic mouse.

In the transgenic mouse, expression of the dominant-negative RXR enhanced the insulin secretion with high glucose stimulation. In the pancreatic β-cell line, the suppression of RXRs also enhanced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion at a high glucose concentration, while 9-cis-retinoic acid, an RXR agonist, repressed it. High-density oligonucleotide microarray analysis showed that expression of the dominant-negative RXR affected the expression levels of a number of genes, some of which have been implicated in the function and/or differentiation of β-cells.

These results suggest that endogenous RXR negatively regulates the glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Given these findings, we propose that the modulation of endogenous RXR in β-cells may be a new therapeutic approach for improving impaired insulin secretion in type 2 diabetes.