Diabetes news, discovery and discussion thread

weatheriscool
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New insulin capsule could be game-changing for diabetics
By Paul McClure
April 19, 2023
Australian scientists have designed a new capsule that could mean diabetics might one day swallow their insulin instead of injecting it. The design also has potential uses for delivering other protein drugs, such as antibiotics and cancer treatments.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system attacks the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas, causing little to no insulin to be secreted. Type 1 diabetics – and some type 2 diabetics – therefore have to inject themselves with insulin several times a day.

Many diabetics take two types of insulin: fast-acting and slow-acting. After it’s injected, fast-acting insulin is absorbed quickly and is used to control blood glucose levels during meals and snacks and to correct high blood glucose. Meanwhile, long-acting insulin is usually administered once a day. It’s absorbed slowly and provides a ‘background’ level of insulin to help control blood glucose over the day.
https://newatlas.com/medical/new-insuli ... diabetics/
weatheriscool
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Predictive model developed for complications in diabetes
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04- ... betes.html
by Medical University of Vienna
Approximately 40% of persons with diabetes develop chronic kidney disease, leading to successive deterioration and even the complete loss of kidney function. Until now, it has not been possible to predict whether and at what rate the kidney disease will progress. Early detection is essential to delay or avoid kidney failure requiring dialysis.

As part of an international research project led by MedUni Vienna, a tool was developed that allows estimates up to five years in advance, thus allowing for timely preventive measures. The results of the study were recently published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

For their research, the team led by Rainer Oberbauer, Head of the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis at MedUni Vienna's Department of Medicine III, and Mariella Gregorich from MedUni Vienna's Center for Medical Data Science drew on data from major international studies. This made it possible to include 13 routinely-collected baseline values from 4,637 18- to 75-year-olds with type 2 diabetes with slightly to moderately impaired kidney function.

In addition to the most important value for assessing kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate, eGFR), age, gender, body mass index, smoking behavior, hemoglobin and cholesterol levels as well as medication intake were selected as predictors. On this basis, the research team developed a predictive model based on tested statistical methods, which is already being prepared for clinical use.

"The strength of our study compared to previous research on the topic lies not only in the refined methodology, but also in the large amount of data. This allows us to attain a high level of confidence in our findings," says first author Mariella Gregorich. "Accordingly, the prediction tool proves to be reliable and able to predict a decline in kidney function based on eGFR for up to five years after baseline."

However, the study has also revealed that the individual course depends on other, still unknown factors.
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Study unlocks potential breakthrough in type 1 diabetes treatment
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04- ... tment.html
by Silvia Cernea Clark, Rice University

For the well over 700 million people around the globe living with type 1 diabetes, getting a host immune system to tolerate the presence of implanted insulin-secreting cells could be life-changing.

Rice University bioengineer Omid Veiseh and collaborators identified new biomaterial formulations that could help turn the page on type 1 diabetes treatment, opening the door to a more sustainable, long-term, self-regulating way to handle the disease.

To do so, they developed a new screening technique that involves tagging each biomaterial formulation in a library of hundreds with a unique "barcode" before implanting them in live subjects.

According to the study in Nature Biomedical Engineering, using one of the alginate formulations to encapsulate human insulin-secreting islet cells provided long-term blood sugar level control in diabetic mice. Catheters coated with two other high-performing materials did not clog up.

"This work was motivated by a major unmet need," said Veiseh, a Rice assistant professor of bioengineering and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas scholar. "In type 1 diabetes patients, the body's immune system attacks the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. As those cells are killed off, the patient loses the ability to regulate their blood glucose."
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Potency drug reduces long-term blood sugar in type 2 diabetes
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05- ... sugar.html
by Sahlgrenska Academy
A small group of patients with type 2 diabetes significantly improved their long-term blood sugar levels when treated with high-dose tadalafil, a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction. The result from the University of Gothenburg pilot study is striking, but repetition in a larger study and over a longer period is needed.

Tadalafil is one of the active pharmaceutical substances known as PDE5 (phosphodiesterase type 5) inhibitors, a group that also includes the well-known drug Viagra. PDE5 inhibitors are used to treat impotence or erectile dysfunction (ED).

"Self-medication with PDE5 inhibitors must never take place because, at worst, it can be life-threatening in combination with certain other drugs. These medicines are available on prescription only, and must always be prescribed by the attending physician," says Per-Anders Jansson, professor at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg.

Unlike the other three PDE5 inhibitors that are approved in Sweden, tadalafil is long-acting and can be prescribed as a daily dose.
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New research reveals how vitamin K helps protect against diabetes
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05- ... betes.html
by University of Montreal

Canadian researchers have identified a new role for vitamin K and gamma-carboxylation in beta cells and their potentially protective role in diabetes, achieving a first in 15 years of basic research.

The discovery by scientists at Université de Montréal and its affiliated Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) is a welcome advance in the understanding of the mechanisms underlying diabetes, a disease that affects one in 11 people worldwide and has no cure.

Published May 11 in Cell Reports, the study explains, at least in part, how vitamin K helps prevent diabetes, and could lead to new therapeutic applications for type 2 diabetes.

Vitamin K is a micronutrient known for its role in blood clotting, in particular in gamma-carboxylation, an enzymatic reaction essential to the process. It has been suspected for several years that this vitamin, and thus gamma-carboxylation, may have other functions as well.

Several studies suggest a link between a reduced intake of vitamin K and an increased risk of diabetes. However, the biological mechanisms by which vitamin K protects against diabetes remained a mystery until now.
Enzymes in large quantities

In their study, UdeM associate research professor of medicine Mathieu Ferron and his team at the IRCM were first able to determine that the enzymes involved in gamma-carboxylation and therefore in the use of vitamin K were present in large quantities in pancreatic beta cells, the very cells that produce the precious insulin that controls blood sugar levels.
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Scientists target human stomach cells for diabetes therapy
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05- ... betes.html
by Weill Cornell Medical College
Stem cells from the human stomach can be converted into cells that secrete insulin in response to rising blood sugar levels, offering a promising approach to treating diabetes, according to a preclinical study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

In the study, which appeared in Nature Cell Biology, the researchers showed that they could take stem cells obtained from human stomach tissue and reprogram them directly—with strikingly high efficiency—into cells that closely resemble pancreatic insulin-secreting cells known as beta cells. Transplants of small groups of these cells reversed disease signs in a mouse model of diabetes.

"This is a proof-of-concept study that gives us a solid foundation for developing a treatment, based on patients' own cells, for type 1 diabetes and severe type 2 diabetes," said study senior author Dr. Joe Zhou, a professor of regenerative medicine and a member of the Hartman Institute for Therapeutic Organ Regeneration at Weill Cornell Medicine.
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Wharton's jelly found to halt diabetes progression in Phase II trial
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06- ... phase.html
by Justin Jackson , Medical Xpress
Research in Sweden led by the University of Uppsala has looked into using mesenchymal stromal cells to halt the progress of newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. In the paper, "Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells preserve endogenous insulin production in type 1 diabetes: a Phase I/II randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial," published in the journal Diabetologia, researchers detail the study and results of a small sample set of 24 participants.

The researchers used Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) that were not derived from the patients in the study (allogeneic).
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Plant-based insulin derived from lettuce, can be taken orally
By Bronwyn Thompson
https://newatlas.com/medical/plant-base ... tuce-oral/
June 15, 2023
Animal cells share some qualities with plant cells, but one key feature ours lack is a rigid cell wall. While this provides structure for plants, it’s also something scientists are increasingly looking at for use in new materials, cellulose technology and, now, insulin delivery.

Led by Henry Daniell from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine, researchers have created a promising plant-based insulin, containing the three peptides that occur naturally in insulin, which can also be ingested orally.

Just as important as the genetic material on the inside, the plant cell walls are key to the drug's efficacy. Their sturdiness shields the insulin from upper digestive tract acids and enzymes, until the drug reaches the microbes in the gut, which work to release the insulin. From here, the insulin travels via the gut-liver axis to reach its destination.
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Cancer drug reboots pancreas cells to produce insulin
By Paul McClure
June 19, 2023
https://newatlas.com/medical/cancer-dru ... e-insulin/
Researchers have combined a drug that’s normally used to treat cancer with a naturally derived anti-inflammatory to stimulate pancreatic stem cells to grow into insulin-producing cells. The study’s findings could one day lead to an alternative way of restoring insulin production in people with type 1 diabetes.

In type 1 diabetics, the pancreas’ beta cells are damaged or destroyed by the body’s immune system, producing little or no insulin. Much research has been undertaken to develop treatments to regenerate beta cells, including converting stem cells from elsewhere in the body into insulin-producing cells. According to the International Diabetes Federation, in 2022 there were 8.75 million people in the world living with type 1 diabetes.

The pancreas consists of exocrine and endocrine cells. Endocrine cells are the ones that secrete hormones, including insulin, and exocrine cells produce enzymes that are secreted into the small intestine and help to digest food. Ductal cells are exocrine cells that form the lining of the tubes (ducts) that deliver pancreatic enzymes. Previous studies have suggested that ductal progenitor cells, descendants of stem cells, can differentiate into insulin-producing beta cells.
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New Study Confirms Plant-Based Diet Can Promote Type 2 Diabetes Remission
by Megan Edwards
July 13, 2023

Introduction:
(Forks Over Knives) Adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet can help people with Type 2 diabetes achieve remission or significantly decrease their reliance on medication, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. Researchers analyzed the health records of 59 Type 2 diabetes patients who were treated at a cardiac wellness clinic where they received support in implementing a WFPB diet as part of a lifestyle treatment plan.

The shift in diet garnered several significant results: 22 of the patients (37%) achieved total remission, while the number of patients who needed to use glucose-lowering medications dropped from 40 to 29. Additionally, the number of insulin prescriptions within the group fell from 4 to 1 after the changes in diet were made.

“The two key characteristics of WFPB diets that support Type 2 diabetes remission are lower total energy and lower total fat, which lead to reduced energy intake,” says Micaela Karlsen, PhD, senior director of research for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and a lead researcher on the study.

The concept of eating low energy density foods—that is, foods with a low calorie count—is a popular and proven method for long-term weight loss. This approach allows a person to eat a relatively large volume of food without gaining weight because the ingredients aren’t highly caloric and are often filled with hunger-busting properties such as fiber. In a 2020 statement, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine elaborated on how this technique can support Type 2 diabetes remission by saying that “the three factors of decreasing fat, increasing fruits and vegetables, and increasing water content have been shown to decrease caloric content,” which supports healthy blood sugar levels. Eating a WFPB diet naturally includes many low energy density foods, making it a prime lifestyle choice for people battling diabetes.

This new study adds to a growing body of research that supports using a WFPB diet to prevent, halt, or even reverse the negative health effects of Type 2 diabetes.
Read more here: https://www.forksoverknives.com/wellne ... D.KCHNEa
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