Nestin is expressed in mesenchymal and not epithelial cells of the developing mouse pancreas

Stein cell research and the prospect of stem cell based therapies depend critically on the identification of specific markers that can be used for the identification and selection of stern and progenitor cells. Nestin is expressed in neuronal progenitor cells and has also been suggested to mark multipotent pancreatic stern cells. We show here that, throughout pancreatic development, markers of pancreatic progenitor cells and differentiated pancreatic cells are expressed in E-cadherin-positive epithelial cells that do not express nestin. The data presented demonstrate that nestin is expressed in mesenchymal and not epithelial cells of the developing mouse pancreas. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.