diabetes treatment
New research for diabetes treatment has pointed to possible future treatments that are free from insulin injections. A new report in Nature Medicine online by Dr. Umut Ozcan from Children’s Hospital in Boston MA demonstrates that diabetes may be controlled by artificially activating a protein in the liver. Ozcan is now researching ways to safely do this in his Ozcan laboratory.
In this new study, Ozcan and his colleagues demonstrate that a regulatory protein called XBP-1 regulates blood sugar by causing the degradation of the FoxO1 protein, which is responsible for increasing glucose output from the liver while stimulating the brain’s feeding behavior. The degradation of the FoxO1 protein is independent of XBP-1’s effect on the system that signals insulin.
Activating the XBP-1 may be another approach at controlling type 2 diabetes (decreased sensitivity to insulin). Ozcan Labs is now looking for practical means to implement the activation of the XBP-1 protein that can lead to a clinical development. While there are drugs available for type 2 diabetes, the disease is difficult to control
Ozcan Laboratory primary objective is to delineate the molecular mechanisms of endoplasmic reticulum stress originated pathologies focusing on insulin and leptin receptors. The ultimate goal of the lab is to find a cure for treatment of obesity and obesity related diseases. The study was funded by Children’s Hospital in Boston MA. Umut Ozcan received his MD from the University of Istanbul and completed his research training at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard School of Public Health.
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