Breakthrough in Diabetes treatment research
MANILA, Philippines — Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of mortality in the Philippines.
Alarmed by the rapid increase in the number of adults diagnosed with Diabetes in the country, the International Diabetes Federation expects it to further rise to 5.4 million by 2030 and 7.5 million by 2045. In a report released in January 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported 26,774 deaths due to Diabetes Mellitus in 2022 alone.
But if the most recent developments in diabetes research is to be taken into consideration, this dire situation is about to change drastically in a most positive way. Monash University, Australia’s largest and most global university, together with a team of international researchers, have scored a breakthrough by decoding what causes insulin resistance in fat tissue cells — which has been a major stumbling block in treating and preventing Type 2 Diabetes.
This research gave birth to the development of PATAS, a new drug that "reboots" how fat cells use insulin to revolutionize Type 2 Diabetes treatment and improve the outlook of hundreds of millions of patients globally.
Developing a new drug
Dr. Vincent Marion, the Inserm study coordinator, and deputy director at the Laboratory of Medical Genetics in Strasbourg, France, along with his team, designed the breakthrough peptide drug PATAS and has shown that it was able to fix this problem by enabling glucose to be used in fat cells.
PATAS, which is being developed by AdipoPharma, could be delivered by a simple injection and possibly a patch. It may also have the potential to prevent Type 2 Diabetes, a major global epidemic largely driven by obesity.
Co-researcher Paul Zimmet, AO, Professor of Diabetes at Monash University, said the discovery could improve metabolic control of Diabetes and reduce the risk of the serious complications of Diabetes, including heart, kidney, liver, and eye disease.
PATAS corrects an abnormality in fat cells by separating two proteins, ALMS1 and PKC alpha, that are associated with insulin resistance by blocking insulin from initiating glucose uptake.
In rodent studies, PATAS reduced insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and fat buildup in the liver (steatosis). Beneficial effects were also observed in glucose-intolerant animal models. Similarly, when used on cultured human fat cells in the laboratory and independent contract research organizations, the drug reactivated glucose uptake in the fat cells.
Diabetes medication breakthrough
The Diabetes study breakthrough emerged following research into Alstrom Syndrome, an ultra-rare genetic disease in children. It is associated with obesity and severe insulin resistance that leads to Type 2 diabetes and an accelerated form of liver steatosis and fibrosis. The researchers found that insulin resistance was linked to the dysfunctional protein, ALMS1.
Building on this previous research, the multinational team next discovered that in normal fat cells and upon insulin signaling, a protein called PKC alpha is released from ALMS1 to trigger glucose uptake. With insulin resistance, PKC alpha is no longer released from ALMS1 and hence glucose is no longer absorbed by the fat cells to be utilized.
Dr. Marion shared that in cultured human adipocytes as well as in most relevant animal models, PATAS was able to separate the proteins and restore normal function of glucose uptake and utilization in the fat cells.
For the very first time, this research study has identified the root cause of insulin resistance in adipocytes, a precursor of Type 2 diabetes, and developed a drug that reduces insulin resistance and restores normal glucose uptake.
Professor Zimmet said that the discovery was potentially one of the most important he had seen in his 45 years of diabetes research. According to him, “This is a very exciting discovery that could have enormous health benefits, not just for people with Type 2 diabetes, but also for patients with other chronic medical disorders caused by insulin resistance, including cardiac diseases, and fatty liver and the Metabolic Syndrome.”
The research was led by Inserm, France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham (UK) and Monash University. Human clinical trials were reportedly to likely to start within last year.
