A team of CRCHUM researchers paves the way for improving treatment for Type 2 diabetes
2012-02-08
(Press-News.org) Montreal (Canada), February 6, 2012 – In a study published last week in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, a team led by Dr. Vincent Poitout of the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM)* has made an important step forward in understanding how insulin secretion is regulated in the body. This discovery has important implications for drugs currently in development to treat Type 2 diabetes, a disease which is diagnosed every 10 seconds somewhere throughout the world.
Poitout's team studies the G protein-coupled free fatty acid receptor (FFA1/GPR40), a molecule that plays a key role in stimulating and regulating the production of insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas to remove excess glucose from the blood, which otherwise would be toxic.
Poitout's team demonstrated that glucose in the blood stimulates the expression of the receptor, which in turn prompts the body to produce insulin when glucose and fatty acids rise in the circulation, such as occurs after a meal. Their accomplishment consists in mapping the intricate pathway taken by glucose to stimulate the expression of the receptor and in identifying the various genetic and cellular processes which are activated in this process. This phenomenon contributes to maintaining the right balance between the intake of nutrients and the production of insulin. That balance is precisely what is upset in type 2 diabetes patients, for whom the production of insulin is deficient, and which leads to a variety of chronic conditions.
Although a new generation of antidiabetic drugs which target this receptor to promote insulin tolerance and production is currently being tested, until now little has been known about precisely how the expression of GPR40 is controlled. "Our work has contributed to a better understanding of how these new drugs work. Our ultimate goal is to allow type 2 diabetes patients to lead a healthy life free from the many complications associated with this disease," explains Poitout.
Type 2 diabetes, which used to occur as people grew older, now appears at a younger age due to the increasing prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents. Its appearance can be hastened by an unhealthy lifestyle (fat-rich diet, lack of exercise, etc.). Although it can sometimes be controlled by adopting a healthier lifestyle and diet, most patients are required to take daily medication for the rest of their lives. The prevalence of diabetes is expected by the World Health Organization to exceed 550 million people by 2030.
INFORMATION:
* The University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre is known officially as Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal.
About the CRCHUM: http://www.chumtl.qc.ca/crchum.en.html
About the CHUM: www.chumontreal.com
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2012-02-08
New evidence-based guidelines from the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) address the many risk factors for developing a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or blood clot, as the result of long-distance travel. These risk factors include the use of oral contraceptives, sitting in a window seat, advanced age, and pregnancy. The Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis, 9th ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, published in the February issue of the journal CHEST, also suggest there is no definitive evidence to support ...
2012-02-08
Savers in the Lancashire area have established themselves as the luckiest in the country as another 79 entrants into the Halifax Savers Prize Draw picked up a prize this month. A total of GBP10,600 is heading into the county in prizes this month, bringing the total amount Lancashire savers have won in the draw to GBP26,100 in just two months. A total of 153 local savers have won a prize of GBP100 or GBP1000 in the December and January draws.
With over 560,000 registrations, the unique Halifax Savers Prize Draw has grown even further in popularity with UK savers in January. ...
2012-02-08
Mapping the ancestry of sheep over the past 11,000 years has revealed that our woolly friends are stars among domestic animals, boasting vast genetic diversity and substantial prospects for continued breeding to further boost wool and food production for a rising world population.
An international research team has provided an unprecedented in-depth view of the genetic history of sheep, one of the world's most important livestock species. The study, published February 7 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, maps out how humans have moulded sheep to suit diverse ...
2012-02-08
New evidence-based guidelines from the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) recommend considering individual patients' risk of thrombosis when deciding for or against the use of preventive therapies for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and venous thromboembolism (VTE). Specifically, the Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis, 9th ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, published in the February issue of the journal CHEST, focus on risk stratification of patients, suggesting clinicians should consider a patient's ...
2012-02-08
CINCINNATI—An editorial authored by University of Cincinnati (UC) diabetes researchers to be published in the Feb. 7, 2012, issue of the journal Cell Metabolism sheds light on the biological factors contributing to rising rates of obesity and discusses strategies to reduce body weight.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, about one-third of U.S. adults are obese, a number that continues to climb.
"While we don't usually think of it this way, body weight is regulated. How much we weigh is influenced by a number of biological systems, and this is part ...
2012-02-08
One way to tackle a tumor is to take aim at the metabolic reactions that fuel their growth. But a report in the February Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press Publication, shows that one metabolism-targeted cancer therapy will not fit all. That means that metabolic profiling will be essential for defining each cancer and choosing the best treatment accordingly, the researchers say.
The evidence comes from studies in mice showing that tumors' metabolic profiles vary based on the genes underlying a particular cancer and on the tissue of origin.
"Cancer research is dominated now ...
2012-02-08
Contrary to current convention by which infection with the organism Clostridium difficile is regarded as an infection that is acquired by contact with symptomatic patients known to be infected with C. difficile, these may account for only a minority of new cases of the infection. These findings are important as they indicate that C. difficile infection, which can be fatal especially in older people, may not be effectively controlled by current hospital infection strategies.
In a study led by Professor Tim Peto of the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, UK, and published ...
2012-02-08
In low- and middle-income countries, mild cognitive impairment—an intermediate state between normal signs of cognitive aging, such as becoming increasingly forgetful, and dementia, which may or may not progress—is consistently associated with higher disability and with neuropsychiatric symptoms but not with most socio-demographic factors, according to a large study published in this week's PLoS Medicine.
The established 10/66 Dementia Research Group interviewed approximately 15 000 people over 65 years of age who did not have dementia in eight low- and middle-incomes ...
2012-02-08
Online parcel delivery specialist Parcel2Go has applauded the drive and will to succeed of the thousands of people across the UK who decide to start their own businesses. In the face of rising unemployment across Britain and the threat of a double-dip recession, entrepreneurs of all kinds are grasping the opportunity to take control of their own future.
Figures released last month by the Office for National Statistics showed the number of people registered as self-employed in the UK increased by 101,000 during the three months to November 2011, representing a 3.5 per ...
2012-02-08
Edward Mills of the University of Ottawa, Canada and colleagues argue in this week's PLoS Medicine that the HIV/AIDS response in Africa needs a more balanced approach to gender, so that both men and women are involved in HIV treatment and prevention. Traditionally, targeted efforts at reducing the impact of the HIV epidemic have focused on women and children while men have received considerably less attention.
The authors say: "The epidemiological evidence is accumulating, and indicates that males in sub-Saharan Africa are not accessing HIV services as often as their ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] A team of CRCHUM researchers paves the way for improving treatment for Type 2 diabetes
