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Pollution and Diabetes Linked?

Lancet, in its latest issue reported on the need for research on the possible link between the pollution in the environment and diabetes. Drs. Julian Griffin and Oliver Jones from Cambridge emphasized the need to investigate this probable link.

Not much is known about the link between type 2 diabetes and the pollution in the environment so the two doctors encouraged the investigation of the POP's (persistent organic pollutants) effect on resistance to insulin which we know can lead to diabetes.

In their presentation, both Drs. Griffin and Jones mentioned the research on the POP's link that was reviewed by their peers. This included the study conducted by Dr. D. Lee which showed an extra strong connection between the type 2 diabetes risk and the POP's level in the blood.

The POP that was particularly found is the one known as organochlorine compounds. It is interesting to note that in the research conducted by Dr. Lee there was no correlation between diabetes and obesity among those who had low POP's in their blood.

So it looked like that thin people whose POP's level in their blood were high had a higher risk for diabetes than if they were overweight but with low readings of POP. This indicates the correlation between diabetes and the environmental pollution.

Dr. Jones said that this possible link does not routinely mean that environmental pollution causes diabetes but if there is a correlation, the implications could be huge. There is not much data on this as of this writing because the focus of researches is on obesity and heredity. Environmental pollution has not been considered as a possible cause of the disease.

This hypotheses on the POP effect should be tested by using tissue or cell cultures to be certain that diabetes can occur, Dr. Jones suggested. If it is found to be the cause then a therapeutic method can be developed to help people who are affected by this.

Leptin Shows Possible Treatment for Diabetes

The Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers at the Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology has reported that the development that may happen to the pika's leptin protein may be due to the cold and not hypoxia. The pika is a mammal that is normally cold-adaptive.

Pikas are small and do not hibernate. They only live in cold zones at high elevation or at high latitude. They are restricted to the region of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This area is sometimes called the roof of the world as it has an average altitude of >3000 meters and located at high latitude.

Climate-wise, the two notable characteristics of the Plateau are hypoxia and low temperature so during their development, the pikas have become tolerant to low temperature and low supply of oxygen. Their metabolic rates are high and so is their oxygen use ratio in order to deal with the cold and hypoxic region.

Dr. Zhao said that their research team showed that when compared with other similar mammals, the pika leptin has a unique characteristic indicating its functional variation. This may be a common trait of the whole pika family due to the cold survival location.

Since the leptin plays a vital role in the metabolism of energy, glucose and lipid, this study clarifies the significant ecology issues of the way small mammals respond to very stressful environment. It also explains the importance of the pika leptin's role in the way the pikas adjust to where they live.

This might help us understand and recognize other ways to treat the diseases that are linked to metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity. Dr. Zhao said that their research team is now continuing their investigations of the pika leptin in order to confirm their finding.

Discovery of Beta Cells Progenitors Shows Promise

Researchers at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel's Diabetes Research Center were able to separate the pancreatic cells from adult mice. These are beta cells that can produce insulin. These progenitors have been indefinable before so their existence has been questionable.

Cell, the scientific journal, published the findings in the January 25 issue. Harry Heimberg's research team did the report. This shows promise in the sense that if the progenitor cells are also found in human pancreas, then it may leave the door open for new treatments for diabetic patients.

We know that the diabetics do not have enough insulin because their beta cells that produce it are not sufficient. And to move the main source of energy from the blood to the cells, insulin is needed. The primary source of energy is sugar.

It took so long to discover these progenitors cells because for one thing they are in short supply. Then it was difficult to get these cells to act. What the Heimberg's research team did to solve these challenges was to fasten the channel that uses up the digestive enzymes from the pancreas.

Clamping the channel resulted in the activation of the progenitor cells. The investigators then did some genetic labeling on these cells to make it possible to detect and separate them. Here is the good part. During the process, the beta cells doubled in quantity. What does this mean to us?

If more studies on this are pursued to find out if these progenitor cells are also in humans and the factors that make them produce insulin, then there will be more chance for people to undergo the successful treatment of beta cells transplantation.

As long as there is inadequate supply of beta cells, this successful therapy of transplantation is limited because of insufficient donor organs. Getting large supplies of these beta cells from the progenitor cells will solve this problem and will make the transplantation available to more people.

Encouraging Data for Type 2 Diabetes

There's promising data for type 2 diabetes announced by Genaera Corporation. They said that their drug candidate to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes, trodusquemine or MSI-1436, shows noticeable improvement in obese mice.

The same drug has also lowered the plasma insulin levels and improved the glucose tolerance and fasting blood glucose in animals that were hyperglycemic. This announcement was made at the Diabetes Mellitus Symposia in Breckenridge, Colorado.

In addition to the marked improvement in the aforementioned areas, the effects were maintained. Here's how they found this out. They administered the MSI-1436 to the diet-induced obese mice four weekly treatments. The result was significant in the sense that there was marked improvement in the level of plasma insulin.

In addition, the glucose tolerance improvement was maintained when the mice were administered the same drug weekly for 122 days. How did they find this out? By testing the oral glucose tolerance, and so they concluded that long periods of treatment will maintain the marked improvement.

It looks like that the MSI-1436 has properties that are anti-diabetic. What are these properties? Maintained improvement in glucose tolerance and fasting blood glucose, improved sensitivity to insulin and lowering of plasma insulin levels are the anti-diabetic properties the scientists found from their experiments.

Genaera president and CEO, Jack Armstrong, said that with the promising data they obtained, they will keep on exploring MSI-1436 as a treatment for obesity and type 2 diabetes. They are going ahead with assessing the potential of this drug that will impact both obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Mayo Clinic Finds Link Between Pancreatic Cancer and Diabetes

Gastroenterology published this month the findings of the study conducted by Mayo Clinic on the link between pancreatic cancer and diabetes. The study found that 40% of patients with pancreatic cancer were previously diagnosed with diabetes many months before or for up to two years in some cases.

Lead author of the study Suresh Chari, M.D., who is also the gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic, said that they are now certain that for the patients who have pancreatic cancer the diabetes is caused by cancer and not vice versa.

Their next goal now is to find a biomarker for the diabetes brought about by pancreatic cancer so that they can check the newly diagnosed diabetic if they have early pancreatic cancer. This way they can present surgical treatment as early as possible.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States and since they usually do not show symptoms for this early on, by the time it is diagnosed, the stage is so advanced, surgery is not possible. That is why less than 5% live five years after the diagnosis is made.

The researchers reviewed the records of 736 patients with pancreatic cancer and 1875 healthy people with the record of fasting blood sugar data. They found that 40% of the patients with pancreatic cancer were diagnosed with diabetes while in the healthy people group, only 20% had diabetes.

Diabetes that is induced by pancreatic cancer is less common than type 2 diabetes. Their previous study showed that only one of every 125 who were 50 years old and over and who were newly diagnosed with diabetes will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

They will continue their work on this so that they can catch pancreatic cancer early enough to make it possible to do a surgical intervention more successfully. As for me, I am only too glad to know that this study shows that pancreatic cancer is not a diabetes complication. Enough already!

Diabetes Risk May Be Reduced by Whole Grain Foods

Whole grain foods, they say, is a good way to avoid type 2 diabetes. Now a review has proven that a diet rich in unrefined grains does indeed reduce the risk to develop diabetes. There is a need for more research though to confirm this finding.

Marion Priebe, the chief review author said the proof is weak so they cannot make a firm conclusion that whole grain foods protect one from developing type 2 diabetes. The decrease in the whole grains intake for the last ten years coincided with the increase in type 2 diabetes leading to the theory of the link between the two.

Professionals at the University Medical Center Groningen's Center for Medical Biomics in the Netherlands led by Priebe, who is the epidemiologist and nutritionist there, reviewed twelve studies that worked on the connection between type 2 diabetes and whole grains consumption.

What the researchers did was this. They followed people without diabetes to find out whether those who ate meals rich in whole grains had less chance of developing the disease than those who did not. The results of the studies were consistent in the sense that the risk to develop diabetes was reduced for those who consumed whole grain foods.

However, two of the studies that dealt with the link between weight and whole grain intake had only improved slightly the risk to develop type 2 diabetes. There was only one controlled trial and the eleven were prospective studies so there's a need for more randomized controlled studies that will give a more definitive conclusion.

Submission for Phase 3 Studies of Diabetes Vaccine Initiated

This study, announced by Diamyd Medical, will consist of around 300 patients at 30 to 50 clinics in Europe. About three to five countries will participate. More are anticipated to join the study. The subject of the study is the therapeutic diabetes vaccine called Diamyd.

Professor Ludvigsson, the chief investigator, is from the University of Linkoping, Linkoping, Sweden. The application for the study's Phase III has been submitted to the Swedish Medicinal Products Agency. Other submissions will also be sent to other countries in Europe.

FDA also received an application to carry out the Phase III study last December, 2007. CEO of Diamyd Medical, Elizabeth Lindner, said this is an important landmark for Diamyd. More countries and diabetes clinics in Europe will participate in the Phase III study.

As a life science corporation, Diamyd Medical develops therapy for diabetes and its complications. They have developed this drug called Diamyd to target autoimmune diabetes. The result of the Phase II clinical trials was encouraging as they showed important and optimistic results in Sweden.

The active matter in Diamyd is GAD65 which is a chief autoantigen in autoimmune diabetes. GAD may have a vital role not only in diabetes. It may also play a role in other diseases that are related to the central nervous system.

Diamyd has a sole license worldwide from the University of California as to the therapeutic use of the GAD65. It has sublicensed this to Neurologix, Inc. New Jersey to treat Parkinson's disease. It has also other projects in the works including the use of GAD and enkephalin for chronic pain.

Wouldn't it be great if the vaccine for diabetes came true? Let us hope and pray it does. It has already passed the clinical trials I and II so they are on track to getting nearer for the vaccine to become a reality. It will be every diabetic's dream come true.

Briefing on Diabetes Toll

Diabetes experts, American Diabetes Association, and the Congressional Caucus will hold a briefing on January 23, 2008 to talk about the yearly cost estimate for diabetes. They will discuss the Lewin Group study that compiled these statistics for the American Diabetes Association.

There are both direct and indirect costs of this condition. The speakers at this briefing will reveal the overwhelming figures. They will make the disturbing expense incurred by the Americans public. The economic impact of this disease is truly staggering.

The leaders of the Congressional Caucus who will speak at the briefing are Representatives Mike Castle, Diana DeGette, Mark Kirk, and Xavier Becerra. The American Diabetes Association will be represented by its Chairman of the Board, Stewart Perry.

The president of ADA's Health Care and Education, Ann L. Albright, PhD, RD will also speak. So will the director of the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases, Griffin Rodgers, MD, MACP and the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemiology and Statistics Branch, Ed Gregg, PhD.

In the United States, diabetes is now recognized as the fifth cause of death by disease. The death rate caused by diabetes has risen by 45% since 1987. Compare this statistics for the death rate caused by stroke, cancer and heart disease which has gone down and you will see what a difference a few years made.

The meeting will be held at 1:00 pm on January 23, 2008 at 2218 Rayburn House Office Building. I was hoping they will discuss not only the economic impact of the disease but also the emotional struggle the diabetics along with their families have to go through but I didn't see this in the agenda.

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