Guzhen team's latest PNAs: intelligent insulin to prevent hypoglycemia during diabetes treatment

May 22, 2019 / BIOON / - bioengineers at UCLA and their colleagues have developed a new insulin that can help prevent hypoglycemia in people who use insulin to treat diabetes The treatment is evaluating potential clinical trials that, if successful, could change diabetes treatment, the study published in PNAS Photo source: PNAs insulin is a hormone naturally produced by the pancreas It helps the body regulate glucose, which is consumed through food and provides energy for the body When a person's body can't produce insulin naturally (type 1 diabetes), or can't effectively use the insulin produced (type 2 diabetes), diabetes will occur In both cases, doctors prescribe regular doses of insulin to patients to control the disease In general, people who need insulin use a blood glucose meter or continuous blood glucose monitoring system to monitor blood glucose level, and then calculate the corresponding insulin dose In addition, regular intake of carbohydrates is important for maintaining normal blood sugar levels Both of these needs are bound to be affected by human errors, which may bring potentially damaging consequences When blood sugar is too low, too much insulin can cause hypoglycemia This can lead to seizures, comas and, in extreme cases, even death To be safe, UCLA led research team developed an "intelligent" insulin called I-insulin, which can prevent blood sugar levels from falling too low Insulin plays a "key" role in the body, helping glucose enter cells from the blood When insulin attaches to the cell surface, it activates a protein in the cell, called a glucose transporter, which then enters the cell surface This molecule then carries the surrounding glucose from the blood into the cell The team added extra molecules to insulin to make new smart insulin The added molecule, known as a glucose transporter inhibitor, chemically blocks glucose transporter molecules from reaching the surface Its presence does not prevent all glucose from entering, nor does it permanently block transport molecules Instead, it's part of a dynamic process, depending on how many inhibitors and glucose molecules are present "Our new insulin is like a 'smart' key," said Dr Gu Zhen, lead researcher of the study and professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles School of engineering "Insulin allows glucose to enter the cell, but when the blood sugar is normal, the added inhibitor molecules will prevent too much glucose from entering the cell This keeps blood sugar at normal levels and reduces the risk of hypoglycemia "This type of I-insulin can also respond quickly to high glucose levels," added Wang Jinqiang, CO lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Gu's research group "For example, after a meal, when blood glucose levels rise, insulin levels in the blood also rise rapidly, which helps normalize blood glucose levels "A team led by the University of California tested this intelligent insulin in mice with type 1 diabetes After the first injection, insulin I kept blood sugar within the normal range for up to 10 hours A second injection three hours later extended the protection against hypoglycemia "The next step is to further evaluate the long-term biocompatibility of this modified insulin system in animal models prior to clinical trials," said study co-author Dr John buse, director of the diabetes care center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of medicine If this wish is realized, it will be one of the most exciting developments in the field of diabetes treatment "The new insulin has the potential to optimize response time and how long it can last in the body," Gu said It can also be delivered in other ways, such as skin patches that automatically monitor blood sugar levels, or pills "Reference materials: Zhen Gu et al Glucose transporter inhibitor regulated insulin mites hyperglycemia, procedures of the National Academy of Sciences (2019) Doi: 10.1073/pnas.1901967116,