Study May Lead to New Diabetes Treatments

A U.S. study indicated that insulin receptors have a major affect on islet growth, a finding that might lead to new treatments for type 2 diabetes.

Joslin Diabetes Center researchers identified the insulin receptor as an important protein that promotes islet cell growth in mice whose bodies are unable to use insulin properly or are insulin resistant — a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

The researchers, led by Dr. Rohit Kulkarni, said since the body’s natural response to insulin resistance is to increase insulin secretion from the pancreas and grow more islet cells, also known as beta cells, harnessing that growth response could lead to new treatments to enhance beta cell growth.

The failure to grow more functional beta cells leads to overt diabetes, said Kulkarni, a Joslin investigator and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard University. If we can identify the key signaling proteins critical for the islet cell growth response, we can develop potential therapeutic targets to enhance the growth of beta cells.

The study appears in the early online edition of this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.