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A Team Of Researchers May Have Discovered A Breakthrough Drug That Can Cure Diabetes

A Team Of Researchers May Have Discovered A Breakthrough Drug That Can Cure Diabetes

Foods contain fat, protein and carbohydrates. When one eats, the sugar level increases and the carbohydrates are then transformed into glucose. This is where the beta cells of the pancreas play their part, secreting insulin that allows glucose to enter the body's cells, especially in the liver where it will be processed and stored.

People with diabetes suffer from a deficiency of the beta cell in the pancreas, and therefore can not process glucose properly.

Researchers have recently discovered a cocktail of drugs that promote the multiplication of insulin-producing cells, reports our colleagues at Dailymail. This breakthrough discovery would cure diabetes. The drug is still in the experimental phase and the tests are still in their infancy. Nevertheless, researchers believe that its effect on beta cells could be a game changer for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

What is diabetes ?

According to forecasts, by 2025, 300 million people will have diabetes worldwide. Diabetes is a chronic condition that persists for life and without adequate management, it can lead to serious health complications: kidney damage, eye damage, heart disease, stroke and in some cases vision loss.

Diabetes occurs when there are few beta cells in the pancreas to produce insulin or when insulin is produced very little, insulin is needed to regulate blood glucose by allowing glucose to enter the body. body cells.

There are two main types of diabetes:

· Type 1 diabetes: About 6% of people with diabetes are affected, this was formerly known as insulin-dependent diabetes. It usually affects children, adolescents or young adults, and results from the disappearance of beta cells from the pancreas. It is actually the immune system that mistakenly identifies the beta cells as invaders and destroys them. Type 1 diabetes is said to be an autoimmune disease.

· Type 2 Diabetes: This type of diabetes affects 92% of people with diabetes and occurs in adults over 40 years of age. Nevertheless, because of overweight, obesity and lack of physical activity. In type 2 diabetes, the process is not the same as type 1. In fact, scientists have recently discovered that an insufficient number of functional beta cells can contribute to the development of this type of diabetes.

According to Dr. Andrew Stewart, director of the Institute of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism of Mount Sinai (USA), no available anti-diabetic drug can regenerate beta cells in patients with the disease.

A promising and revolutionary drug cocktail
In 2015, Dr. Stewart and his team published a study revealing that a drug called Harmine was producing new adult human beta cells at relatively low levels.

A second study published in 2017 revealed genetic abnormalities in insulinoma, a pancreatic tumor derived from beta cells and secreting insulin. The latter contains a "genetic recipe" explaining how to regenerate beta cells.

In a recent study published in the journal cell metabolism, the team managed to identify a second class of drugs that could cause rapid replication of human beta cells when they were administered with the drug "Harmine". Indeed, without drug intervention, beta cells replicate at an average rate of 0.2% per day and by administering Harmine, this rate increases to 2% per day. But when Harmine is given in combination with this new drug, this rate increases by 5 to 8% per day.

Dr. Stewart announced, "We are very excited about this discovery because, for the first time, we are able to experience a replication rate of human beta cells sufficient to replenish their mass in humans. The next big hurdle is finding a way to deliver them directly to the pancreas. "

Nevertheless, according to Dr. Stewart, this combination of drugs would have adverse consequences for other organs, although he did not specify exactly what its effects were. He said, "Now we need to develop methods to deliver these drugs specifically to beta cells in humans (...) We have packages to deliver, but we need a messaging system to send them to the address exact of the beta cell. "
 Cure Diabetes