Posted by James on February 24, 2003 at 14:34:44:
New Target for Diabetes Drugs Identified
2-24-03
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A molecule found in the pancreas may be a promising target for new drugs to treat diabetes, according to scientists at a Japanese drug company.
The results "will provide new insight into insulin secretion mechanisms and the treatment of diabetes," the researchers report.
Scientists have known that fatty acids in the blood, known as "free" fatty acids, play some role in how the pancreas releases insulin. Exactly how fatty acids do this has been uncertain, though.
A protein called GPR40 seems to play a crucial role in this process, according to Dr. Shuji Hinuma and colleagues at Takeda Chemical Industries, who studied pancreatic cells collected from rats.
This protein, which is abundant in the pancreas, serves as a receptor for free fatty acids, the researchers report in the advance online edition of the journal Nature. When some types of free fatty acids activate GPR40, insulin-producing cells in the pancreas release more of the hormone in response to glucose.
The results of the research suggest that compounds that target GPR40 "show potential" for the development of new drugs to treat diabetes, Hinuma's team concludes.
Diabetes keeps the body from properly metabolizing food. In healthy people, the pancreas releases the right amount of insulin to process glucose, or sugar, in the blood.
In type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks insulin-producing cells, leading to low or nonexistent levels of the hormone. People with this type of diabetes must take daily insulin injections to survive.
In type 2 diabetes, which is closely linked to obesity, the body can no longer properly use insulin.