Blocked fatty tissue: New therapy for diabetes
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More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.Obesity is one of the main causes of type 2 diabetes. In patients, fat accumulates not only under the skin, but also directly in the muscles at an early stage. That seems to really get the disease mechanism going.
Rick Vega and his colleagues at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in Orlando may now have found a way to block fat storage and thus stop the disease.
"We don't yet know exactly why fat is deposited in the muscles of overweight diabetes patients," Vega told The researcher suspects that several mechanisms activate fat storage.
The researchers believe that the insulin resistance, which is characteristic of type 2 diabetes, probably contributes to this. In those affected, the cells, especially the muscle cells, react increasingly sluggishly to the sugar-scavenger insulin. The reason: Due to the constant oversupply of sugar in the blood, they have reduced the docking points for the sugar hormone on their surface.
needle in a haystack
Vega and his colleagues went on the hunt for an endogenous molecule that is linked to both insulin resistance and the accumulation of fat in muscle tissue. To do this, they examined thousands of proteins - and finally found what they were looking for: They discovered a molecule called MondoA, which is located in muscle cells.
MondoA is a glucose sensor - that is, it registers how much sugar is available. If glucose is abundant, the protein activates the build-up of fat deposits in the muscles. At the same time, the signal molecule limits the absorption of glucose from the blood into the muscle cell. This makes the muscle tissue even more resistant to insulin.
The obesity of the muscle cells has other unhealthy consequences: Vega suspects that certain intermediate products, which are formed when glucose is converted into fat, also directly increase insulin resistance and thus further stimulate the disease.
Effective against obesity and diabetes?
The researchers tested their hypothesis in experiments with mice. And indeed: if they blocked MondoA in the muscles of the animals with the help of a synthetically produced molecule, they stored less fat - even though they had been given high-fat food to eat. At the same time, the insulin resistance of the animals also decreased.
"MondoA blockers could open up a completely new way of treating type 2 diabetes at an early stage," hopes Vega. The whole thing would have a pleasant side effect: Since such an active ingredient would stimulate the fat metabolism, it could also melt the pounds.
Next, Vega and his colleagues want to investigate the effects of MondoA on humans in more detail. They are also looking for other compounds that can inhibit MondoA well without serious side effects. It remains to be seen whether the scientists' results will really pave the way for a silver bullet against type 2 diabetes.
Impaired glucose transport
90 percent of all diabetics suffer from type 2 diabetes. The number of insulin binding sites in the cell membranes decreases. As a result, glucose is no longer sufficiently absorbed by the cells and converted into energy. It stays in the blood and constantly stimulates the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas to produce more insulin - at some point they exhaust themselves and produce less and less insulin - and the blood sugar rises even more.
Source: Vega R. et al .: MondoA coordinately regulates skeletal myocyte lipid homeostasis and insulin signaling, Journal of Clinical Investigation, August 8, 2016.
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