Scientists: It is hoped the research will lead to a treatment for diabetes.© STV
Scientists believe the proteins targeted by Botox could hold the answer to treating type two diabetes.
Researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh are using molecular microscopic techniques on SNARE proteins to see how insulin release is regulated.
It is hoped they will identify how the regulation changes during type two diabetes.
SNARE proteins are targeted by Botox, preventing them from helping muscles contract.
They are also used in the pancreas to help release insulin. Type two diabetes happens when the cells cannot cope with prolonged high glucose levels of obese patients and releases less insulin. The reasons for this are still unclear.
It is hoped that by monitoring SNARE proteins they can determine why this happens.
Dr Colin Rickman said: "The human body has a system for storing glucose and releasing it when the body needs energy. This system controlled by the release of insulin.
"When a person is obese, which a worryingly high and increasing number of people in the UK are, this system is put under pressure and eventually fails. This leads to Type 2 diabetes. We know SNARE proteins are responsible for insulin secretion, but it's still not understood exactly how they do it.
"Once we can understand how these proteins behave in 'normal' circumstances, how they move, how they are arranged in the cell, how they interact with other proteins, we can then compare it with what happens under Type 2 diabetic conditions. This is the first time these proteins have ever been observed in such detail.
"Ultimately this could lead to new methods of diagnosis, prevention of the cells' failure that leads to diabetes and also treatments for Type 2 diabetes."
Published on : Thursday, July 25, 2013
Category : Diabetes
Post URL : http://internal-med.blogspot.com/2013/07/scientists-believe-proteins-targeted-by.html
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