Insulin against chronic colitis
A huge number of people around the world use subcutaneous insulin injections daily to regulate blood sugar levels in diabetes mellitus. However, as it turned out, diabetes mellitus is not the only disease for which this drug has an effect. In experiments on mice, Danish researchers from the Universities of Copenhagen and Roskilde have demonstrated that regular administration of insulin into the rectum suppresses chronic intestinal inflammation.
As part of their study, the authors conducted a series of experiments on a mouse model and analyzed the effect of regular administration of insulin into the rectum on the course of chronic intestinal inflammation accompanying diseases such as ulcerative colitis (colitis ulcerosa), from which about 20,000 people suffer in Denmark alone. The cause of the development of this disease is unclear, but it is accompanied by very unpleasant manifestations, including bloody diarrhea, anemia, abdominal pain and weight loss.
Scientists have studied the effects of insulin using different methods. Firstly, they demonstrated that the activity of the inflammatory process, assessed by the level of the Cox2 marker, decreases by 50% compared to the control group, whose animals were injected with saline solution as a placebo. Approximately the same results were obtained in studies on mice conducted earlier as part of testing the currently used treatment method.
Secondly, they measured the body weight of animals, as it is known that people suffering from colitis lose weight due to the fact that they eat very little. Since this marker is not accurate enough, in some of the studies the only existing method of treatment is diet, in severe cases – enteral (through a probe in the stomach or intestines) or parenteral (intravenous) nutrition has not demonstrated any effect at all. However, when insulin was administered, animals with simulated colitis lost 15-20% less weight than mice in the control group. At the same time, after the end of therapy, they gained weight 50% faster, which is an important sign of recovery.
Insulin exerts its effect by activating a gene in intestinal cells, which, according to the results of earlier studies, has an antioxidant effect and thus can protect intestinal cells from inflammation. This distinguishes the new approach from existing methods of treatment, which do not strengthen the defenses of the intestinal wall, but weaken the destructive effect of the immune system. The researchers hope that in the future, combining the two therapeutic approaches will optimize the results of treatment.
Inspired by the success of the preclinical study, the authors created a company that will conduct clinical trials of the method and, presumably, eventually develop a technology available to patients. Taking into account the fact that insulin is a widely used drug, and the method of rectal administration of drugs is traditionally used in the treatment of patients with chronic intestinal inflammation, the developers expect to receive all official permits very quickly for both research and clinical application of the method.
Article by Mohammad Yassin et al. Rectal insulin instillation inhibits inflammation and tumor development in chemically-induced colitis is published in the Journal of Crohn's and Colitis.
Evgenia Ryabtseva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the University of Copenhagen: Insulin Shows Great Potential Against Chronic Colitis.