Hope for new diabetes treatment

[Lahori paa jee]

US scientists have shown that a single protein plays a central co-ordinating role in the development of diabetes.
A Stanford University team found that calcineurin is key to the health of the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells that are defective in diabetes.

A study on mice showed the protein regulates 10 genes that had already been associated with the condition.

The Nature study raises hope of new treatments for a condition which affects millions worldwide.

In diabetes, the beta cells produce too little insulin or none at all, which prevents cells of the body from being able to take in sugar after a meal.

Sugar accumulates in the blood, damaging the blood vessels, kidneys and eyes.

The fact that immune-suppressing drugs, such as those taken by people undergoing transplant operations, greatly increase the risk of diabetes alerted the Stanford team to calcineurin.

The drugs are known to put a stranglehold on the protein.

Protein production stopped

The researchers worked with mice bred to produce calcineurin in the pancreas only until they were born.

After birth, the pancreas in each mouse stopped producing the protein.

By 12 weeks of age, the mice, which had been born with a normal number of beta cells, were severely diabetic.

Cutting the supply of calcineurin was found to prevent the beta cells from increasing their numbers as the mice grew - more body mass requires more beta cells to keep blood sugar in check.

It also reduced the amount of insulin made by the existing beta cells.

Researcher Dr Jeremy Heit said: "This work has led us and others to think in entirely new ways about diabetes.

"Until now people had identified individual genes or processes that were involved in diabetes.

"The new findings show that these lines of research are connected through a common regulator in calcineurin."

Next, the Stanford team bypassed calcineurin by artificially activating its protein sidekick, called NFAT.

Beta cells lacking calcineurin but with active NFAT behaved normally, multiplying as the mice aged and producing normal amounts of insulin.

Many avenues

The researchers said drugs that enhance the activity of calcineurin or NFAT could become a new treatment for type-2 diabetes, in which the beta cells do not produce enough insulin.

Drugs that inhibit calcineurin or NFAT may also treat diseases in which the beta cells produce too much insulin, such as hypoglycaemia or some pancreatic tumours.

Treating isolated beta cells with drugs that enhance calcineurin could make those cells divide, producing more cells for transplantation.

And activating calcineurin could potentially enable scientists to direct embryonic stem cells to become insulin-producing cells.

Dr Scott Campbell, vice president of research for the American Diabetes Association, said: "This work has the potential to be big.

"This is a step in the right direction and a major leap forward, but now we need to take it into humans."

Dr Angela Wilson, director of research at Diabetes UK, said: "This is a very interesting study.

"The prospect of novel drugs that could help to treat type 2 diabetes is welcome news given the epidemic numbers of people now developing the condition.

"This research is, however, at an early stage and the findings relate to mice. We look forward to seeing its relevance in humans."

Source

 

[Neo]

Insulin cell transplant helps control diabetes


An international study confirms that transplantation of insulin-producing pancreas cells, called islets, can help stabilize blood sugar levels in people who have hard-to-control type 1 diabetes.

However, the transplanted islet cells gradually lose their ability to produce insulin, the researchers report.

Shapiro and his associates have conducted a subsequent trial to evaluate the feasibility and reproducibility of the procedure.

The 36 adult subjects in the trial had type 1 diabetes for at least 5 years, along with glucose levels that swung widely from too high to too low. Between 2001 and 2003, the patients received up to three perfusions of islet cells, so long as islet function persisted after the preceding transplantation. The islets were isolated from the pancreas of brain-dead donors.

The primary endpoint — independence from insulin injections with adequate glucose control at 1 year after the transplants — was achieved in 16 patients. Ten subjects had partial graft function, with substantially improved diabetes control. Ten patients had complete graft loss.

However, only five participants were still insulin independent after two years, and only one after three years.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\10\02\story_2-10-2006_pg6_21

 

[Neo]

Sugar linked with mental problems



Oslo teens who drank the most sugary soft drinks also had more mental health problems such as hyperactivity and distress, Norwegian researchers reported.

Their study of more than 5,000 Norwegian 15 and 16-year-olds showed a clear and direct association between soft drink intake and hyperactivity, and a more complex link with other mental and behavioral disorders.

They surveyed the students, asking them how many fizzy soft drinks with sugar they had a day, and then questions from a standard questionnaire used to assess mental health.

The teens who reported skipping breakfast and lunch were among the heaviest soft drink consumers, Dr Lars Lien and colleagues at the University of Oslo found.

“There was a strong association between soft drink consumption and mental health problems among Oslo 10th graders,” they wrote in their report.

“This association remained significant after adjustment for social, behavioral and food-related disorders.”

Most of the students said they drank anywhere between one and six servings of soft drinks per week. Those who drank no soft drinks at all were more likely than moderate drinkers to have mental health symptoms, the researchers said. But those who drank the most — more than six servings a week - had the highest scores.

For hyperactivity, there was a direct linear relationship — the more sodas a teen drank, the most symptoms of hyperactivity he or she had.

The worst problems were seen in boys and girls who drank four or more soft drinks a day. Ten percent of the boys and 2 percent of the girls drank this much.

The researchers said it was possible that other substances in the soft drinks, such as caffeine, were to blame for the symptoms, and they did not check other possible sources of refined sugar in the children’s diets.

But they said many of the teens were clearly drinking too many sugary drinks. Norway’s recommended intake is 10 percent of the day’s total calories from sugar and the researchers said at least a quarter of the boys were getting this much from soft drinks alone.

“One simple and effective measure to reduce soft drink consumption in this age group would be to remove soft drink machines from schools and other public places where adolescents gather,” they wrote.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\10\02\story_2-10-2006_pg6_19