UCD study finds possible cause of type 2 diabetes
A research study at the University of Colorado Denver may have found a cause for type 2 diabetes; possibly helping scientists to better understand, treat and ultimately prevent the disease.
The study, which was published in the September issue of Metabolic Syndrome and Related Diseases, found that the loss of heat shock proteins, otherwise known as stress proteins, may be the cause of the type 2 diabetes epidemic.
Philip Hooper, MD, lead investigator of the study said, “Specifically, as we age, overeat and are sedentary, we become deconditioned and lose our cellular stress proteins. This in turn sets up loss of insulin action as well as loss of pancreatic cells that release insulin, resulting in type 2 diabetes and a situation of tissues vulnerable to life’s stresses. With loss of insulin action, our cellular defense system – stress proteins – breaks down, leading to inflammation, loss of insulin action and again loss of stress proteins – a vicious cycle.”
The presence of stress proteins, which are essential for life and are found in all living things, can be increased through insulin medications, exercise and dieting, which will reduce inflammation and improve insulin action.
Hooper began his research of stress proteins with studies about heat shock. His research showed that the glucose levels of people with type 2 diabetes fell when they were immersed in a hot tub six days a week for three weeks. Research has also shown that heat at tissue level will raise the stress proteins. This protects cells from damage, a significant finding, since the low levels of stress proteins in diabetics leads to a vulnerability of stress.
If a person with diabetes is in an auto accident, they have a several-fold increase in mortality and will spend many more days in intensive care than a person without diabetes.
The study is already leading to developments in treatment for type 2 diabetes, as an understanding of stress proteins helps to explain how drugs affecting the proteins affect the body. A group of drugs, called GSK-3 inhibitors, have been shown to slow progression of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and ALS by raising the stress proteins and improving insulin action. The drugs also increase the capacity of the body to handle potentially lethal heart attacks, strokes and sepsis.
“Next steps include testing of GSK-3 inhibitory drugs in patients with type 2 diabetes and exploring how the insights from this work relate to other progressive diseases, including aging,” said Hooper.
