(Press-News.org) Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered how to stop the destructive process that leads to cardiovascular disease in diabetic laboratory animals.
It is well known that high blood sugar levels significantly raise the risk of cardiovascular disease. It is unclear, however, why this happens. An important part of the explanation may be NFAT, a protein activated when blood sugar is raised and which starts a chain of events that damage the blood vessels and accelerate the development of atherosclerosis.
"We have now shown that it is possible to stop the atherosclerosis caused by diabetes despite the fact that the mice continued to have high blood sugar levels", said Maria Gomez, a researcher at the Lund University Diabetes Centre. Over the course of four weeks, the researchers gave diabetic mice a new substance originally developed as an immunosuppressant that prevented the activation of the NFAT protein.
Apart from the blood vessels, the substance did not affect NFAT in any other cells of the body.
"That is important. We don't want to suppress the whole immune system. We also saw that the substance only has an effect when NFAT is active. The plaque formation was only stopped in diabetic mice and not in non-diabetic mice, which had normal blood sugar levels", Anna Zetterqvist points out.
"It appears that there are different mechanisms behind plaque formation caused by diabetes and not caused by diabetes", she added.
The process of plaque formation in the blood vessels of diabetic mice resembles the process in humans. The plaques go through the same stages and the damage worsens with age.
"Despite major progress in the treatment of cardiovascular disease in recent decades, there is no treatment that specifically targets the damage to the blood vessels experienced by diabetes patients. Our findings show that blocking the NFAT protein could constitute such a treatment", said Maria Gomez.
###
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0065020 END
Protein block stops vascular damage in diabetes
2013-06-05
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New screening technique paves the way for protein drugs from bacteria
2013-06-05
A cheaper, more efficient technique for developing complex protein drugs from bacteria has been developed at the University of Sheffield.
Using the bacterium E. coli, researchers from the University's Faculty of Engineering showed it was possible to vastly increase the efficiency of the cells producing specifically modified proteins, as well as improve its performance and stability. The modification is present in over two-thirds of human therapeutic drugs on the market and involves the addition of specific sugar groups to the protein backbone, a process termed glycosylation.
Drugs ...
Obese mums may pass health risks on to grandchildren
2013-06-05
Health problems linked to obesity – like heart disease and diabetes – could skip an entire generation, a new study suggests.
Researchers have found that the offspring of obese mothers may be spared health problems linked to obesity, while their own children then inherit them.
Currently, concern about the obesity epidemic is mainly focused on the health of obese women and their children, rather than the wider family.
The University of Edinburgh study has shown that moderately obese mothers can make an impact on the birth weight and diabetes risk of grandchildren, ...
Companies should take the lead in take tackling tax avoidance
2013-06-05
Companies that claim a high level of social responsibility should lead the way in committing to greater transparency over their tax arrangements and abandoning the use of tax havens, according to new research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA).
The study, published in the journal Third World Quarterly, highlights the fact that many of the companies actively engaged in tax avoidance also like to assert their credentials as responsible corporate citizens.
Rhys Jenkins, professor of development economics at UEA, and Peter Newell, professor of international relations ...
Metal-free catalyst outperforms platinum in fuel cell
2013-06-05
Researchers from South Korea, Case Western Reserve University and University of North Texas have discovered an inexpensive and easily produced catalyst that performs better than platinum in oxygen-reduction reactions.
The finding, detailed in Nature's Scientific Reports online today, is a step toward eliminating what industry regards as the largest obstacle to large-scale commercialization of fuel cell technology.
Fuel cells can be more efficient than internal combustion engines, silent, and at least one type produces zero greenhouse emissions at the tail pipe. Car ...
Giant planets offer help in faster research on material surfaces
2013-06-05
New, fast and accurate algorithm from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, based on the mathematical formalism used to model processes accompanying interaction of light with gas planet atmospheres, is a major step towards better understanding of physical and chemical properties of materials' surfaces studied under laboratory conditions.
Solar System's gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, are among the brightest objects in the night sky. We see them, because light from our star interacts with their dense atmospheres. The mathematical ...
CNIO researchers identify a new gene that is essential for nuclear reprogramming
2013-06-05
Researchers are still fascinated by the idea of the possibility of reprogramming the cells of any tissue, turning them into cells with the capacity to differentiate into cells of a completely different type— pluripotent cells—and they are still striving to understand how it happens.
A group from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), headed by researcher Ralph P. Schneider, from the Telomeres and Telomerase Group led by María A. Blasco, publishes this week an article in Nature Communications on the discovery of a new gene called TRF1 that is essential ...
Use caution with computerized concussion test, UT Arlington researcher says
2013-06-05
Newly published research from an international team featuring UT Arlington assistant professor Jacob Resch has reaffirmed questions about portions of the popular computerized concussion assessment tool ImPACT.
When administered as it is in a clinical setting, the test possessed strong reliability on some evaluation factors. But, on other factors, it miscategorized healthy participants as impaired as much as 46 percent of the time.
Authors say the study illustrates the need for multiple types of concussion assessments. The research was published online May 31 in the Journal ...
Metastatic breast cancer study shows success in finding new treatment
2013-06-05
Funded by volleyball tournaments, a new study released this week shows success in pinpointing individualized treatment for women with metastatic breast cancer, according to George Mason University researchers.
The Side-Out Foundation's pilot study is part of cutting-edge approach to personalized medicine that looks beyond genomic analysis alone to combine it with what some say is the next frontier in targeted therapy: proteomics.
The pilot study is first of its kind to utilize novel protein activation mapping technology along with the genomic fingerprint of cancer ...
Pollination merely 1 production factor
2013-06-05
This news release is available in German. All over the world, bees are dying and insect diversity is dwindling. Only recently, both the media and scientists expressed fears that insect pollination is in decline, which jeopardises food security. The (lack of) pollination has thus become a sound argument for the protection of species and natural habitats, and organic farming.
ETH-Zurich researchers from the group headed by Jaboury Ghazoul, professor of ecosystem management, set about investigating this argument by studying the influence of pollinator insects on coffee ...
Aflibercept in AMD: No proof of added benefit
2013-06-05
The drug aflibercept (trade name: Eylea) has been approved in Germany since November 2012 for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG) the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether this new drug offers an added benefit over the current standard therapy. Such an added benefit cannot be derived from the dossier, however, as the manufacturer did not submit any suitable data for this comparison.
Patients ...