Medicine
Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center might have found a possible cure for type 1 diabetes, converting it to a asymptomatic, non-insulin-dependent disorder.
“We’ve all been brought up to think insulin is the all-powerful hormone without which life is impossible, but that isn’t the case,” said Roger Unger, professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study appearing online and in the February issue of Diabetes in a news release. “If diabetes is defined as restoration of glucose homeostasis to normal, then this treatment can perhaps be considered very close to a ‘cure.’”
Studies on mice show that when glucagon, a hormone produced by the pancreas, is suppressed, insulin becomes completely unnecessary. The hormone’s absence does not cause diabetes or any other abnormalities, according to the release.
Normally, glucagon prevents low blood sugar levels. In individuals with type 1 diabetes however, it causes high blood sugar.
Type 1 diabetes affects about one million people in the United States.
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