In the United States, around 10.5% of the US population (approximately 34.2 million people of all ages) are living with diabetes, while around 7.3 million people have not yet been diagnosed with the condition. Type 1 diabetes accounts hereby for around 5.2% of all diagnosed cases, with cases increasing every year. To this day, there is no cure for diabetes, it can, however, go into remission. Through lifestyle changes and medications, many people are able to manage their diabetes and clinical research is constantly searching for new treatments and methods to improve the quality of life for people living with any type of diabetes. Last year alone, there have been many new discoveries that may drive new developments in diabetes research. Today, we will take a look at the newest discoveries of last year and what they can mean for the future.
Identification of new risk factor for diabetes type 1
A new development in regard to autoimmune attacks of insulin-produced beta-cells has been made by the research team around Dr. Delong. So far, researchers knew that genetics and environmental factors play an important role, the underlying factor why our immune system mistakenly attacks beta-cells and recognizes them as foreign was not known. Now, the research team has discovered new proteins called Hybrid Insulin Peptides (HIPs), which can be found on beta-cells of people living with diabetes type 1. These cells are recognized as foreign by their immune system. This discovery could be the beginning of new findings in regard to preventing or treating diabetes type 1. Dr. Delong and his team are now working on determining whether HIPs could serve as biomarkers or potential prevention.
New molecule to improve continuous glucose monitoring
In a new journal called “Molecular Design of a New Diboronic Acid for the Electrohydrodynamic Monitoring of Glucose” by Dr. Wang and his team of researchers, talk about their development of a novel molecule that uses a different, non-enzymatic approach to continuously monitor glucose levels in your blood. This is a great development as recent ways of continuously monitoring glucose were highly dependent on the activity of an enzyme, which can change over time and thus lead to inaccurate readings. With the newly developed molecule, Dr. Wang and his team are able to monitor it over a stable long period of time, which leads to more accuracy in readings as well. The team is currently undergoing the process of patenting the new invention and continues clinical research to benefit people living with diabetes.
New insights into insulin interaction with receptors
For many years, scientists have been trying to understand how insulin interacts with its receptor. In a new study, researchers of the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden and the Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus at TU Dresen in Germany have published their new findings in regard to the interaction with receptors together with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich, the McGill University in Canada, and the University of Helsinki.
In the past, scientists have detailed the central role of insulin as a regulator of blood sugar and showed its involvement in diabetes. The actions of insulin are mediated by its receptors, localized at the cell surface. Insulin binds therefore outside the cell of its receptor and includes structural change transmitted inside the cell to trigger a response. Hereby, it has been found that insulin displays two distinct binding surfaces that interact with the receptor (site 1 and site 2). While site 1 interactions were already researched and observed, not a lot was known about site 2 interactions until now. Throughout their study, researchers were now able to capture the binding of insulin to site 2 for the first time. This identification of interaction helps researchers to now reconcile findings of earlier studies with new and structural data they have obtained and might help to inform new approaches to structure-based drug design.
Make a difference!
Looking at recent developments and breakthroughs in medical research for diabetes over the past year shows how essential clinical trials are to drive innovation in medicine. The developments of new treatments and drugs are only possible through thousands of volunteers that want to make a difference for their health community. This is why medical research needs you. Do you want to be part of medical history? Sign up here.
댓글