Hope for significant new diabetes treatment in Stanford discovery

Source: Stanford University Medical Center
Posted: September 20, 2006

Summary:

Researchers and Stanford University Medical Center have discovered that certain immune-suppressing drugs, such as those taken by patients who have had organ transplants, greatly increase the risk of developing diabetes. These drugs are known to inhibit a protein called calcineurin.

The implications of these findings are many:

Drugs that enhance the activity of calcineurin or NFAT could become a new treatment for type-2, or adult-onset diabetes, in which the beta cells don’t produce enough insulin.
Drugs that inhibit calcineurin or NFAT could treat diseases in which the beta cells produce too much insulin, such as hypoglycemia or some pancreatic tumors.
Treating isolated beta cells with drugs that enhance calcineurin could make those cells divide, producing more cells for transplantation.
Activating calcineurin could help Kim in his efforts to direct embryonic stem cells to become insulin-producing cells.

Commentary: These findings seem as if they could eventually lead to an effective treatment or cure for diabetes.