Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Blocking cell receptors for glucagon, the counter-hormone to insulin, cured mouse models of diabetes by converting glucagon-producing cells into insulin producers instead, a team led by UT Southwestern reports in a new study. The findings, published online in PNAS, could offer a new way to treat both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in people.
More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, a disease characterized by a loss of beta cells in the pancreas. Beta cells produce insulin, a hormone necessary for cells to absorb and use glucose, a type of sugar that circulates in the blood and serves as cellular fuel.
In Type 2 diabetes, the body's tissues develop insulin resistance, prompting beta cells to die from exhaustion from secreting excess insulin to allow cells to take in glucose. In Type 1 diabetes, which affects about 10 percent of the diabetic population, beta cells die from an autoimmune attack. Both kinds of diabetes lead to severely elevated blood sugar levels that eventually cause a host of possible complications, including loss of limbs and eyesight, kidney damage, diabetic coma, and death.
More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, a disease characterized by a loss of beta cells in the pancreas. Beta cells produce insulin, a hormone necessary for cells to absorb and use glucose, a type of sugar that circulates in the blood and serves as cellular fuel.
In Type 2 diabetes, the body's tissues develop insulin resistance, prompting beta cells to die from exhaustion from secreting excess insulin to allow cells to take in glucose. In Type 1 diabetes, which affects about 10 percent of the diabetic population, beta cells die from an autoimmune attack. Both kinds of diabetes lead to severely elevated blood sugar levels that eventually cause a host of possible complications, including loss of limbs and eyesight, kidney damage, diabetic coma, and death.
Swapping alpha cells for beta cells to treat diabetes
Blocking cell receptors for glucagon, the counter-hormone to insulin, cured mouse models of diabetes by converting glucagon-producing cells into insulin producers instead, a team reports in a new study. The findings could offer a new way to treat both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in people.
www.sciencedaily.com
