Insulin without overdose
Scientists: new type of insulin will help diabetics avoid overdose
Molecular biologists from MIT have for the first time created an insulin analog that independently "controls" its own effectiveness, which will allow diabetics not to be afraid of hypoglycemia in the near future and inject the drug into the body much less often, according to an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Chou et al., Glucose-responsive insulin activity by covalent modification with aliphatic phenylboronic acid conjugates; press release Engineered insulin could offer better diabetes control published on the MIT – VM website).
According to WHO statistics, there are about 340 million people suffering from diabetes in the world today. Most of them are forced to take two or even 5-6 injections of insulin a day in order to stabilize blood sugar levels. Insulin is a rather dangerous hormone and its overdose as a result of switching to a new brand of the drug can cause severe damage to health or even death as a result of hypolycemia – a sharp decrease in the proportion of sugar in the blood.
In recent years, scientists have been actively trying to create a safe analogue of insulin with a similar chemical formula, or such systems of hormone injection into the body that would protect it from overdose. For example, in early 2013, American biochemists created a special micro-dropper- a "jellyfish" that can be inserted under the skin, where it will slowly release insulin for several days.
Daniel Anderson from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) and his colleagues approached this problem from the other side – they created a version of insulin, the activity of which directly depends on how much glucose is contained in a person's blood.This approach, as biologists explain, has several advantages at once.
According to them, this form of insulin will not cause hypoglycemia and other complications, which will allow large amounts of the hormone to be injected into the body. This, in turn, will reduce the number of "high" and "low" peaks of glucose concentration in the blood that are dangerous for the health of the heart and blood vessels, which should prolong the life of a diabetic. In addition, such insulin protects the body from a sharp increase in blood sugar levels after a person eats or drinks something sweet.
Diagram from the press release of University of Utah Novel "Smart" Insulin Automatically Adjusts Blood Sugar in Diabetic Mouse Model – VM
The work of this "self-regulating" insulin, as the researchers note, was tested on diabetic mice whose pancreas did not produce the hormone. After a single injection of insulin, the mice were protected from fluctuations in glucose levels throughout the day, and even several attempts to "bring down" the balance with large doses of sugar could not neutralize this effect. In the near future, Anderson and his colleagues will begin clinical trials of the hormone, in which they will evaluate its safety for humans.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru10.02.2015