One injection stops diabetes in its tracks: Treatment reverses symptoms of type 2 diabetes in mice

[avaistheone1]

Source: Science Daily

In mice with diet-induced diabetes -- the equivalent of type 2 diabetes in humans -- a single injection of the protein FGF1 is enough to restore blood sugar levels to a healthy range for more than two days. The discovery by Salk scientists, published today in the journal Nature, could lead to a new generation of safer, more effective diabetes drugs.

The team found that sustained treatment with the protein doesn't merely keep blood sugar under control, but also reverses insulin insensitivity, the underlying physiological cause of diabetes. Equally exciting, the newly developed treatment doesn't result in side effects common to most current diabetes treatments...

...Diabetes drugs currently on the market aim to boost insulin levels and reverse insulin resistance by changing expression levels of genes to lower glucose levels in the blood. But drugs, such as Byetta, which increase the body's production of insulin, can cause glucose levels to dip too low and lead to life-threatening hypoglycemia, as well as other side effects.

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140716131541.htm

---

from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Wow!

Great stuff for mice. Hopefully translates to humans!

[avaistheone1]

3. Indeed!

This certainly would be nothing short of a miracle for millions of people,

and a huge game-changer for the health care industry.

[ninjanurse]

11. Amen

Being in the health care industry I see the awful devastation of diabetes, the increase and the struggles people have to try to live with it. A safer, more effective drug would save much suffering as well as money.

[cui bono]

24. Yes! And luckily the ones suffering from the mouse diabetes epidemic are all lab mice

so they can easily get their treatment.

[onehandle]

2. So how many gallons of High Fructose Corn Syrup can I chug each day now?

Last edited Thu Jul 17, 2014, 06:46 AM - Edit history (1)

If this works on humans, that's how some will see it.

[avaistheone1]

4. Hopefully few will take that approach.

[yeoman6987]

6. Honestly I don't care

if this is found to work, it will help millions of people. We should applaud this and not make disparaging remarks. I don't have the disease but I know many people who do.

[Ed Suspicious]

14. That's a totally shitty way to look at a wonderful advance in medicine. Diabetes has both a

behavioral, a social, a psychological, and a genetic component. To depict diabetics as gluttonous corn syrup drinkers is just straight unfair. I don't care how well I eat or how well my sugars are controlled, I will always for the rest of my life be diabetic. I will always be unable to process sugars like you might be able to.

I will always be diabetic, just like my great grandparents, just like my grandparents, just like my mom. We are type II and it is not a result of poor eating and lack of exercise. Well that may get in the way sometimes, but I can tell you that my grandmother who has lived with it for the past 30 years takes her meds, exercises, eats precisely as her doctor recommends and is absolutely still diabetic.

Diabetes is misunderstood and you are not helping here. You make it sound like I can will my diabetes into submission. I can control my sugars and my risk factors, but again, I will always, no matter how good my control, no matter how much I exercise, no matter how restrictive my diet, I will always and forever for the rest of my days be diabetic.

[Ed Suspicious]

16. "There's no cure for type 2 diabetes, but you can manage the condition . . ."

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-2-diabetes/basics/definition/con-20031902

One of the insidious aspects of diabetes is that as as you gain weight often your become more and more resistant to insulin, unfortunately, the more you resist, the hungrier you get. The cycle is a bitch to break and is like the cause behind many undiagnosed diabetics rapid weight gain. If they don't know they have it they can go years without even knowing they are diabetic and often the lions share of the weight comes on after their cells become resistant to insulin.

Increased hunger. Without enough insulin to move sugar into your cells, your muscles and organs become depleted of energy. This triggers intense hunger.

It is easy to imagine how, prior to the ACA, people could go years, even decades or their whole lives without being diagnosed.

How easy would it be to develop negative food habits when no matter how much you eat or drink, satiation never comes?

So to loose weight you need more exercise?

Fatigue - If your cells are deprived of sugar, you may become tired and irritable.

Tough to exercise with undiagnosed Type 2 because you are always tired. Always napping after a meal. Always craving.

Read up an learn please. This idea that if we just don't eat donuts we'd never have to worry is a gross oversimplification that fuels the idea that diabetics are fat lazy and of low moral character.

I see it all the time. It needs to end.

[catbyte]

25. You're so right, Ed. My husband developed Type I at age 4.

His pancreas just completely ceased to produce insulin. I don't think it's anything he did at age 4. I know that Type I & II are different, though. Sometimes, no matter how careful one is, crap happens.

[Moostache]

15. I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes last year...

It was the latest in a string of health set-backs over the last 5 years that has included renal cell carcinoma, a herniated disc in my back, a lost job and 8 months of unemployment. Your ignorant comments are hurtful and I would not wish my struggles on even you.

Please refrain from taking shots at overweight people, the truly last safe bastion of bigotry to take a free run at...

Medical breakthroughs that could lead to bettering millions of lives deserve better, but the people suffering from diseases should be the real concern and you failed miserably on that count. I hope it made you feel all better inside your hollowed out heart because I'm sure I was not the only one that your comments hit like a bat. Thanks for ruining my evening.

[cui bono]

29. I don't see it as taking a shot at overweight people.

I saw it as a take on our society where as a whole we are always looking for the "quick fix" so we don't have to do the work. It's not just about food either, although the examples that come to mind right away are other medical conditions. Rather than change diet for cholesterol or heart disease people will keep eating what their doctor advises them against and just take a drug instead of modifying diet.

[Moostache]

31. We won't see eye to eye on this, so I will leave it at agree to disagree and move on. (nt)

[JoeyT]

19. What's important is that we don't cure any conditions

for which one of the causes is something you personally find objectionable.

You're dripping moral crusade all over a thread about an important discovery. Might want to get that looked at.

[rurallib]

27. highly offended by this.

[cui bono]

28. That was my first thought. I don't understand the responses you are getting.

It's like most things in this country. People don't want to modify their behavior if there's a "quick fix" for it. It's not just about food either.

[onehandle]

32. Me either.

You got what I meant exactly right.

[Yo_Mama]

34. If you are implying that all diabetics have to do is change they way they eat ...

you are mentally orbiting some planet in a galaxy far, far away.

Type II has an extremely strong genetic component. Many of the people I deal with have been on rigorous diets since their teens, and still they develop it. That's because many of them seem to be born with hyperinsulinism. We know because now we are checking kids and grandchildren, and sure enough, quite a few of the three year-olds have abnormal blood sugar responses.

You're just not dealing with reality.

[randys1]

5. A. wow B. dont allow any science denier access to the drug

[cheapdate]

7. Or any morons like Sarah Palin

who ignorantly mock basic research funding by the National Academies ("...$2 million to study the sex life of fruit flies!&quot while calling for research budgets to be slashed.

[Nay]

8. I sure wish this stuff could be tested and deployed rapidly. nt

[localroger]

9. Don't get your hopes up -- mice are a very poor animal model

Mouse diabetes responds much better to treatment than human diabetes. There have been dozens of promising treatments in the mosue model that didn't work for humans. If it works in primates it's worth getting your hopes up.

[eggplant]

10. This is a really good time to be a mouse.

You can be kept alive practically forever with current treatments.

[ninjanurse]

12. While We're Waiting

The current drugs and health advice- diet and exercise, can save people from the worst complications of diabetes. There are people just coming on to insurance and people who never got the support they needed, who don't have the tools to control diabetes. We in health care who deal with the community are constantly teaching and getting patients connected with the services they need.
There are people who struggle already, and diabetes is just too much. But I see what it does when untreated- blindness, amputations, kidney failure. We should all be more scared.

[littlewolf]

13. more. faster. please. nt

[littlemissmartypants]

17. Replication. eom

[defacto7]

18. I just hope

it makes it to market. Some medical breakthroughs do not and I don't mean they fail as a breakthrough, they just disappear. I don't know why.

[theHandpuppet]

20. Thanks much for posting this news

Any progress in the battle against diabetes is great news!

[Babel_17]

21. This is exciting news

Though as the article more or less states, more needs to be learned about how it works on insulin resistance. Then again, if it works, it works. As it seems there are no bad side effects, we might see some limited human trials before too long.

I try and help my friends with type 2 diabetes by suggesting certain foods and supplements. Foods like cauliflower, coconut oil, Alaskan Salmon, Skipjack Tuna (aka chunk light), are on my list. I've also got everyone using Ceylon Cinnamon. Just pour away!

I recommend several supplements and it seems that Gymnema is delivering on helping keep blood sugar in check.

A new one, to me anyway, that I'm trying on myself* is benfotiamine. It's purported to help against AGE and neuropathy. I tell everyone to take stabilized R-Alpha Lipoic Acid.

*I've got a slight issue with, on the ball of my right foot, experiencing the feeling of a rolled up sock. Roughly what Morton's Neuroma can do. I'm also trying other stuff for that. I've got some other nerve issues I hope the Benfotiamine might help with.

Edit: I don't have type 2 diabetes but I'm trying to eat according to a very low carb diet.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

22. Hope it works in humans

but I won't get carried away. Just because it works in lab mice doesn't mean it will have the same effect in human beings. There have been so very many prospective drugs for a variety of diseases including Alzheimer's that have shown effectiveness, even cures, and that just don't work when it comes to human trials. As someone with type II diabetes myself, I hope this works.

[winter is coming]

23. Sounds promising. I hope this isn't one of those things that works in mice but not in humans,

and that it doesn't kill your liver or something else.

[get the red out]

26. Wonderful news

My husband and sister have type II diabetes. I hope they can get this safely ready for human use quickly.

[rurallib]

30. slightly off topic, but this is a wonderful way to honor Dr. Salk

I was a kid when he found the vaccine for polio and took nary a penny extra than his salary for it.

Nowadays every "capitalist" is looking to find that zillion dollar drug or app. If it plays out, I know not if the Salk people will follow Dr. Salk's example. I hope they do.

Still making this discovery is a testament to Dr. Salk.

[burrowowl]

33. K&R!