Saturday, February 5, 2011

Researchers May Have Found a Potential Cure for Type 1 Diabetes


Researchers May Have Found a Potential Cure for Type 1 DiabetesResearchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that suppressing a single hormone may eliminate the need for insulin injections and may make the condition completely asymptomatic.
Truth is, there's still a ways to go in "curing" type 1 diabetes since the researchers only conducted lab tests with mice. But they found that suppressing the hormone glucagon renders insulin unnecessary. The new findings show that glucagon may play a large role, perhaps even larger than insulin, in controlling glucose levels. Dr. Roger Unger, the study's chief researcher, on the discovery:
"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. If diabetes is defined as restoration of glucose homeostasis to normal, then this treatment can perhaps be considered very close to a 'cure.'"

No comments:

Post a Comment