【JCEM】Continuation of the chapter! Scientists have mapped out the biochemical action network of diabetes and opened up a new world of diabetes treatment!

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Written by Sophia

A hundred years ago, diabetes was incurable
.
Since then, scientists have learned a lot about the effects of diabetes on the body and potential treatments
.
Abnormal biosynthesis and secretion of the insulin precursor proinsulin occurs in
type I and type II diabetes.
Inflammatory cytokines have been implicated in islet stress and dysfunction in both forms of diabetes, but the mechanism remains unclear
.

A team of foreign scientists led a biochemical interaction network to help special cells called islet cells in the pancreas produce insulin, thereby revealing the origin of diabetes and revealing new targets
for future treatments.
The latest publication was published in
the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Studies have found that inflammation disrupts these interactions, triggering a snowball effect of cellular stress that damages islets and makes it harder for the body to produce insulin
.

https: //doi.
org/10.
1210/clinem/dgac493

Research background

 01 

Diabetes, which affects about 400,000 people worldwide, is a chronic condition that occurs when
the body is unable to produce insulin (type 1) or use insulin effectively (type 2).
In 2019, the World Health Organization ranked diabetes as the ninth leading cause of
death worldwide.
While diabetes can be controlled with lifestyle changes and medications, there is no cure
for either disease.

The researchers focused on the biochemical processes involved in insulin formation in pancreatic islets, specifically a protein, proinsulin, which is converted into insulin through a complex series of reactions with other proteins that fold proinsulin into specific three-dimensional shapes
.
To study how inflammation, a hallmark of diabetes, affects the body's ability to convert proinsulin to insulin, the researchers chose isolated human islets, but because they are so fragile, they are difficult to study
.

"Isolated human pancreatic cells have a short shelf life, and we need to ship them directly to the lab instead of simply shipping them," Itkin-Ansari says.

”

Research progress

 02

The researchers treated human islets
with inflammatory compounds that mimic the types of chronic inflammation experienced by diabetics.
It was found that even short-term inflammation can have a significant impact on proinsulin's interaction with proteins, allowing proteins to fold properly as necessary
for insulin production.

"In inflammatory conditions common to both diabetes, proinsulin does not fold into the correct three-dimensional structure, which leads to cellular stress and reduced insulin," Itkin-Ansari said
.
"The remaining islet cells have to work harder to produce enough insulin to meet the body's needs
.
This creates a vicious cycle that may explain how diabetes originates and how it worsens
over time.
”

The researchers' next step is to study islet cells from diabetics to see this vicious cycle as it occurs
over a long period of time.

Research implications

 03 

Together, these data reveal the mechanisms by
which diabetes-related cytokine dysregulation β cell function.
The study is the first to show that even short-term exposure to inflammation reshapes the interaction
of proinsulin with key companions and regulators of secretory pathways.

Itkin-Ansari said: "Each new study we complete brings us one step closer to discovering the next big breakthrough in diabetes treatment
.
”

Resources:

https://medicalxpress.
com/news/2022-10-circuitry-diabetes.
html

https://doi.
org/10.
1210/clinem/dgac493

Note: This article is intended to introduce the progress of medical research and cannot be used as a reference
for treatment options.
If you need health guidance, please go to a regular hospital
.