The understanding of the phenomenon leading to pancreatic b-cell mass regulation represents a critical step in the development of regenerative therapy for diabetic patients. Type 1 (T1D) and type 2 (T2D) diabetes are characterized by a near-absolute or a relative deficiency of b-cells numbers, respectively. In T1D, at the time of clinical diagnosis, approximately 60-80% of the insulinproducing cells have been destroyed (1). With the currently available treatments, patients with T1D and T2D develop severe long-term complications that clearly reduce their life expectancy (2-4). While insulin replacement continues to be the primary treatment, the need to establish a precise and physiological glucoregulation in order to avoid complications has led to multiple avenues of alternative interventions. Some studies fulfilled this requirement with allogenic transplantation of human islets or insulin-producing cells (5,6). Still under extensive study, the use of pig islets as an alternative source of insulin-producing cells for xenotransplantation seems to be promising and could represent the future of cell therapy for diabetes (7). Other studies have aimed at abrogating the cause of the disease (i.e., the autoimmunity leading to the destruction of b-cells in T1D) (8). Finally, others worked on the reestablishment of an adequate b-cell mass able to restore euglycemia through methods that promote b-cell preservation and/or regeneration in diabetic individuals (9-11).Pancreatic b-cell mass and function exhibit significant plasticity so that in times of increased insulin demand, such as obesity (12), insulin resistance, and pregnancy (13,14), b-cell numbers and insulin secretory capacity can increase significantly to meet this metabolic demand.During a life span, maintenance of pancreatic b-cell mass is regulated by a complex equilibrium among neogenesis, increase and decrease of cell volume (hypertrophy or atrophy), cell differentiation, and cell proliferation (hyperplasia) and death (apoptosis). Now, there is considerable interest in finding efficient and safe methods to increase b-cell mass by inducing the proliferation of remaining b-cells or favoring the differentiation of resident precursors or progenitors. The proliferation of preexisting b-cells has been shown to be an important source of newly derived adult pancreatic b-cells (15). Under physiological conditions, the rate of primary b-cell replication is very low (in the range of 0-1.2% of the b-cells in adults). Although extensively studied, physiological mechanisms of human b-cell proliferation still remain unknown. Different molecules have been shown to favor b-cell proliferation, mainly prolactin (increasing during pregnancy), serotonin (16), glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), and betatrophin (17).In this issue, Wei et al. (18) show that pancreatic b-cell mass is controlled during development and adulthood by osteocalcin via its receptor Gprc6a. Recently, several observations have highlighted that bone, more than supporting tissue, is a real endocrine organ regulat...