Effect of blockade of the Fas receptor on glucose- and interleukin-1β–induced β-cell DNA fragmentation and proliferative activity. Effect of blockade of the Fas receptor on glucose- and interleukin-1β–induced β-cell DNA fragmentation and proliferative activity. Human islets were cultured on extracellular matrix-coated dishes for 5 days in 5.5 or 33.3 mmol/l glucose alone (control) or in the presence of interleukin-1β (IL-1), antagonistic Fas antibody (ZB4), or both. Results are means ± SE of the relative number of TUNEL-positive (panel 1) and Ki-67–positive β-cells (panel 2) per islet normalized to control incubations at 5.5 mmol/l glucose alone (100%; in absolute values: 0.18 TUNEL-positive β-cells per islet and 1.16 Ki-67–positive β-cells per islet). The mean number of islets scored was 33 for each treatment condition. *P < 0.001 relative to islets at 5.5 mmol/l glucose; **P < 0.05 relative to control at the same glucose concentration; +P < 0.05 relative to the interleukin-1β–treated cells. Kathrin Maedler et al. Diabetes 2001;50:1683-1690 ©2001 by American Diabetes Association