Cellular plasticity and heterogeneity in pancreatic regeneration and malignancy

Pancreatic regeneration in response to tissue injury is a complex process. Recent progress in the understanding of this process has underscored the need for cellular plasticity as a prerequisite in the course of regeneration. A number of different pancreatic cell types have been proposed as progenitors, stem cells or differentiated cells with a high degree of plasticity. Moreover, in the setting of an oncogenic mutation, similar mechanisms appear to drive pancreatic tumorigenesis. Here, we aim to summarize the recent advances in our understanding of cellular plasticity in the setting of regeneration and tumorigenesis.