Figure 5.

Implication of oxidative stress (OS), endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and autophagy deficits in β‐cell decline in patients with type 2 diabetes24. (a) By hierarchy cluster analysis, the impact of OS, ER stress and autophagy deficits on the β‐cell deficits were evaluated by the expression levels of γH2AX as OS‐induced deoxyribonucleic acid damage marker, CCAAT‐enhancer binding protein‐β (C/EBP‐β) as ER stress marker and P62 as autophagy deficit marker, respectively. (b) The results showed three groups: group 1 consists of subjects who were positive for all three factors; group 2 consists of subjects negative for all three factors; and group 3 consists of subjects positive for one or two of the factors. The extent of β‐cell decline was marked in the order of group 1, 3 and 2. In particular, expression of γH2AX was significantly correlated with the reduced β‐cell volume density.