New measure found to control glucose metabolism

Emobileclinic Researchers Corner

 

 

 

The Journal of Nature Communication has published the findings of researchers from the Helmholtz Zentrum München, the Heidelberg University Hospital, Technische Universität München and the Medical Faculty of the University of Leipzig who found a new mechanism that is responsible for the control of glucose metabolism .

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus has been alarming; it is a chronic disease affecting more than six million people. It is associated with the disruption of the glucose metabolism and (apart from type 1 diabetes) an impaired response of the body to the hormone insulin. Several efforts had been made towards finding the cause and likely regulators of the disease with a view to managing it with therapy.

A team led by Professor Stephan Herzig found that the transforming growth factor beta 1-stimulated clone 22 D4, shorten as TSC22D4, serves as a molecular switch in the liver and from there controls genes that can influence the metabolism of the entire body system.

According to Dr Bilgen E. Üstünel, “the strong influence of TSC22D4 on the metabolism in tumor diseases suggested that it could also play a role in metabolic diseases”.

In the present study, the team revealed in diabetic mice that inactivation of TSC22D4 result in the improvement of the insulin action and glucose metabolism. Additional analyses showed that TSC22D4 in particular hinders the production of the lipocalin13 protein, which is secreted in the liver as a substance messenger and can control the glucose metabolism in other organs.

The researchers evaluated liver tissue specimens of 66 patients with and without type 2 diabetes. It was discovered that in the liver of the diabetes patients compared to people with normal glucose metabolism, the TSC22D4 gene was increasing produced more often and there a lower production of lipocalin13.
Herzig further noted that “for the treatment of diabetes there is only a very limited number of therapeutic targets”.

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He said the team “wants to investigate whether our findings can lead to the development of a new therapeutic approach to treat diabetes and insulin resistance.”

 

 

 

Source
Stephan Herzig et.al (2016): Control of diabetic hyperglycaemia and insulin resistance through TSC22D4. Journal of Nature Communications, doi:10.1038/ncomms13267



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