Researchers find potential diabetes treatment
By Jacqueline Minneman | April 18, 2006A group of University Health System researchers have discovered a treatment that reverses the course of Type 1 diabetes in mice. According to Barbara Martin, diabetes educator at the Martha Jefferson hospital, Type 1 diabetes is a genetic disease characterized by insulin deficiency. "People with Type 1 diabetes produce virtually no insulin at all and depend on insulin injections to survive," Martin said. Insulin is a hormone that converts sugar to energy in the body, according to the American Diabetes Association Web site. Led by Jerry Nadler, chief of the University Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, the researchers have found a way to help restore and preserve insulin in diabetic mice. The afflicted mice were treated with a combination of two existing medications, lisofylline and exendin-4, which helped restore the mice's blood sugar, Nadler said. "But even more exciting than that, almost all of [the mice] stayed reversed," Nadler said. Endocrinology professor Craig Nunemaker, who was also involved in the research, said one mouse remained at normal blood sugar levels for 145 days after treatment had ended. "We took them off the therapy after a month, and without any additional treatment they lived to middle age or beyond," Nunemaker said. If the medication can be used on humans, it could change how diabetes is treated. "It could be very significant in principle," Nunemaker said.
