Posted by Gabrielle on October 30, 2001 at 20:31:44:
In Reply to: Re: How to Cure Diabetes Without Causing Cancer posted by Curtis Lomax on October 30, 2001 at 09:36:44:
How to Cure Diabetes Without Causing Cancer?
This is a really important question, both for pharmacological intervention and for transplant issues. At some point, we may have to assess whether the risk of possibly having to cure cancer will be worth the "most expedient current" final cure for diabetes. It's a scary thought.
Some background:
Phosphorus is the 15th element of the periodic table, and can combine with oxygen to form phosphates. These are often present in the cell in the form of ATP or ADP, and are transfered from one molecule to another by enzymes called kinases. Kinases are important in cell signalling. For example, when a MHC-Ag complex on a cell reacts with a T-cell receptor on a T-cell, proteins get phosphorylated (Nervi S et al, 2000). Also, when insulin binds to the insulin receptor, the insulin receptor autophosphorylates. Glucose, when it crosses the cell membrane, becomes phosphorylated by a kinase, and can then either be metabolized for energy (lactate or ATP synthesis) in a process involving glycolysis, or stored, in a process called glycogen biosynthesis. The extent to which these two processes compete in a specific cell depends upon the levels of the respective kinases in this cell. There are many different kinases, and the trick (at least in the kinase world) is really to specifically inhibit the "right" kinase instead of the "wrong" kinase to cure a given disease.
refs.
1. Cohen P. , 2001
2. Frame S, Cohen P., 2001