GENEVA: Swiss and US researchers have discovered that diabetes could be caused by the lack of a protein in certain pancreas cells the Centre for Scientific Documentation and Information announced here.
It said the discovery might lead to some new types of treatment of the condition.
A communication to be issued by the US Academy of Sciences will detail the work done by the research teams one headed by Prof Lelio Orci of the University of Geneva and the other by Prof Roger Unger of the Diabetes Research Centre in Dallas Texas.
The researcher so far has been carried out on rats but the scientists think the same phenomenon might well be found in human beings.
The two teams found in Studying several rat species that a protein known as “glutt 2” on the surface of pancreas beta cells fell off to an impressive extent as the animals developed diabetes.
The disease is caused by an excessive and lasting concentration of glucose in the blood because the beta cells in the pancreas produce insufficient insulin. But “glut 2” acts as a messenger to trigger off insulin secretion and it transports glucose from the blood to the beta cells reporting the concentrations.
The Swiss center says if as the researchers think the phenomenon is the same in human beings the discovery could lead to some new ways of treating diabetes which affects about 4% of the population in western countries.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 25, 1991
