March 9, 2006

Mechanisms Behind Oral Diabetic Agents

Thiazolidinediones (TZD's) are drugs usually prescribed to patients with type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes. Current U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved agents are known as Actos (pioglitazone) and Avandia (rosiglitazone). These oral agents improve blood glucose levels in people with diabetes by improving insulin action in the body. While it is known that these drugs work primarily by binding to a receptor in the nucleus of cells called Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor-gamma (PPARg), all of the molecular signaling events important for the drugs to work are not completely understood.

A new study by scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston helps to explain how these drugs work. The manuscript appears in the March edition of the American Diabetes Association's journal Diabetes.

In a clinical research study, Joslin scientists Allison B. Goldfine, M.D., Sarah Crunkhorn, Ph.D., and Mary-Elizabeth Patti, M.D., examined muscle and fat tissue from patients with type 2 diabetes before and after they took the drug rosiglitazone. The scientists found that levels of two proteins called Necdin and E2F4, which are important in regulating cell replication, are altered in muscle and fat after patients took the drug for two months. Dr. Goldfine is an Investigator in Joslin's Section on Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Assistant Director of Clinical Research at Joslin and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Patti is Director of Joslin's Genomics Core Lab and also an Investigator in Cellular and Molecular Physiology and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Crunkhorn is a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Patti's laboratory.

Read more.....

JoAnn      

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Type-2 Diabetes
Type-2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for 90% of cases diabetes. This disease affects nearly 17 million Americans and is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. Even though 17 million Americans have type-2 diabetes only half of these people are aware that they have diabetes. The death rate in patients with diabetes may be up to 11 times higher than in persons without the disease. The occurrence of diabetes in persons 45 to 64 years of age is 7 percent, but the proportion increases significantly in persons 65 years of age or older. Type-2 diabetes accounts for more than 90% of all diabetes worldwide.