Researchers find diabetes trigger
January 31, 2005
By Raja Mishra
U.S. team locates genetic `switch':Aspirin-like
drugs may check disease
Researchers in Boston have pinpointed a primary trigger
for the most common form of diabetes and have uncovered
evidence that simple, inexpensive aspirin-like drugs
could keep the disease in check.
Researchers from Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston discovered
a genetic "master switch" in the liver that
is turned on when people become obese. Obesity has long
been linked to diabetes, but until now the reason has
been unknown. Joslin researchers found that once turned
on, this switch produces low-level inflammation, which
disrupts the body's ability to process insulin, causing
type 2 diabetes.
Reasoning that aspirin-like drugs are used to quell
inflammation, they successfully used the drugs, called
salicylates, to eliminate the symptoms of type 2 diabetes
in mice. Human tests are already under way in Boston.
"These drugs, among the safest drugs known, can
do a surprisingly good job of toning down this inflammation,"
said Joslin researcher Dr. Steven E. Shoelson, lead
author of the paper.
Shoelson warned against rushing out to get salicylates.
Their effectiveness has been proved thus far only in
mice.
"No one should go out and take these drugs,"
said Shoelson. He said losing weight, exercising, and
eating healthy foods are the obvious things to do.
The findings appeared yesterday in the online version
of the journal Nature Medicine. The work was funded
by the federal government and the American Diabetes
Association.
About 18 million Americans and more than 2 million
Canadians have diabetes; most have type 2 diabetes.
In type 2 diabetes, the body's cells become resistant
to insulin, which transports sugar from the bloodstream
into cells, giving cells energy to function. In diabetes,
this transport is blocked, causing sugar to build up
in blood.
Source:www.thestar.com
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