Research Description
Despite the availability of a number of medications, glycemic control has been difficult for people with type 2 diabetes, and most of the time a monotherapy is not sufficient to control glucose level, and a combination therapy of two or more drugs is required. Therefore, there is a need to develop new drugs, in particular drugs that use a novel mechanism of action, to complement existing drugs and provide more therapeutic options for patients. In addition, obesity/overweight and fatty liver are common in people with type 2 diabetes. Thus, a diabetic drug that can also address other aspects of metabolic syndrome would be ideal. We identified a protein that is selectively secreted from adipose tissue. We found that this protein has insulin-like activity independent of insulin receptor. When administered into obese diabetic mice, it completely normalizes hyperglycemia. The glucose-lowering effect is long-lasting and sustainable. This protein also reduces body weight and ameliorates fatty liver. In this grant application, we will further investigate both the mechanism of action of this protein and its glucose-lowering effect and other metabolic benefits in diabetic mouse models. This pre-clinical research proposed will establish this protein as an ideal drug candidate for the treatment of diabetes and associated metabolic diseases. We expect that the success of this project will support and inform future clinical development in partnership with pharmaceutical industry.Research Profile
What area of diabetes research does your project cover? What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes?Our project will investigate our hypothesis that an adipokine uses a novel mechanism of action to regulate blood glucose. The success of our project would suggest that the adipokine is a strong drug candidate for the treatment of diabetes and associated metabolic diseases.
If a person with diabetes were to ask you how your project will help them in the future, how would you respond?Currently, there is a need to develop new diabetes medications, in particular ones with novel mechanisms of action and less side effects, to complement existing drugs and provide more therapeutic options. We hope our project will provide important information in this aspect.
Why important for you, personally, to become involved in diabetes research? What role will this award play?Diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem, affecting about 10% of the population. However, only 50% of people with diabetes achieve optimal glycemic outcomes. Clearly, new discoveries in diabetes research have to be made and new drug targets have to be identified. This award will help us to evaluate whether the adipokine we are studying is a drug candidate for the treatment of diabetes.
In what direction do you see the future of diabetes research going?It is important for future diabetes research to identify new mechanisms that control glucose homeostasis and new diabetes drug targets that can concurrently address other forms of metabolic diseases.