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Potential new drug for diabetes | In a new study, an experimental oral drug successfully lowered blood sugar levels and inflammation in mice with Type 2 diabetes. The finding
raises hopes that someday the drug could be added to the arsenal of drugs used
by millions of people with this disease, according to new research. The drug consists
of a synthetic molecule that stops the biological activity of a protein called
macrophage migration inhibitory factor, or MIF. This protein is implicated in
a number of diseases because it is associated with the production of inflammation
in the body. The researchers first determined that mice that have been genetically
engineered not to carry the MIF protein are less likely to develop symptoms of
Type 2 diabetes. This finding suggested that MIF indeed has a role in at least
two hallmarks of diabetes: impaired blood sugar control and the presence of other
inflammatory proteins. The scientists then treated diabetic mice with the investigational
drug and found that most animals showed lower blood sugar levels and reduced inflammatory
proteins in their blood when compared to untreated mice with Type 2 diabetes.
"We also found that if we stopped administering the drug, then the blood sugar
level would go up," said Abhay Satoskar, associate professor of pathology at Ohio
State University and senior author of the study. "This does not present a cure
for diabetes, but we think, if it is approved in humans, that it has potential
to become an oral drug taken for the long term to control a very common symptom
of the disease." The study appears online and is scheduled for later print publication
in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
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