Neurogenin 3

Neurogenin-3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NEUROG3 gene.

Neurogenin-3 is expressed in endocrine progenitor cells and is required for endocrine cell development in the pancreas and intestine. It belongs to a family of basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors involved in the determination of neural precursor cells in the neuroectoderm.

Neurogenin 3 (NGN3) is expressed by 2-10% of acinar and duct cells in the histologically normal adult human pancreas. NGN3+ cells isolated from cultured exocrine tissue by coexpressed cell surface glycoprotein CD133 have a transcriptome consistent with exocrine dedifferentiation, a phenotype that resembles endocrine progenitor cells during development, and a capacity for endocrine differentiation in vitro. Human and rodent exocrine cells have been reprogrammed into cells with an islet cell-like phenotype following direct expression of NGN3 or manipulation that leads to its expression.