In Brief
Scientists have used a new drug to reverse diabetes in mice. The drug inhibits the enzyme LMPTP, which contributes to the development of Type 2 diabetes by weakening the body’s sensitivity to the hormone.
Defining Diabetes
In the global community, the number of people with diabetes has been on the rise since 1980, with 422 million people diagnosed by 2014. The U.S. alone has experienced a substantial rise in the incidence of diabetes, with the number of Americans diagnosed increasing from 5.5 million in 1980, to 22 million in 2014—a more than 300 percent increase in less than 40 years.
A team of researchers led by Stephanie Stanford at the University of California, San Diego, is proposing a solution in the form of a single pill that aims to restore insulin sensitivity in diabetic patients. Type 2 Diabetes develops when body’s response to insulin weakens. Many genetic and lifestyle factors will influence the development of diabetes.
Drugs that are available until now could not restore insulin signaling function in diabetic patients- instead, they work by filtering out excess glucose in the blood that comes because of the dysfunction. The drug produced by Stanford’s team, on the other hand, hopes to restore function.
Restoring function
The drug inhibits an enzyme called low molecular weight protein tyrosine phosphatase (LMPTP), which is suspected to contribute to the reduction in cell sensitivity to insulin. With reduced LMPTP activity, the drug reenables insulin receptors on the surface of cells — particularly those in the liver — which in turn restores the cell’s ability to regulate excess sugar.
Researchers fed lab mice a high-fat diet that made them obese and subsequently develop high blood glucose levels. The drug was given to them daily and successfully restored insulin sensitivity without producing and adverse side effects. However, the clinical trials with mice seem to be exciting, the team must continue testing the drug for safety in human clinical trials. But Stanford is confident that the drug “could lead to a new therapeutic strategy for treating type 2 diabetes,”
While we have seen diabetes reversal in patients before, it has never been achieved through medication alone. So, if this drug is approved for use in humans it would be a truly revolutionary treatment.