all diabetes stories

Stem cells open window on disease processes

404132862 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:54:34 -0400

A panel of Harvard Stem Cell Institute experts said recently that stem cell research’s biggest impact on patients’ health likely won’t come from therapies that inject stem cells or implant tissues made from them, but rather from the knowledge gained by examining diseased tissues grown from the cells.

Initial human trial of Type 1 diabetes treatment begun

404132862 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:11:30 -0400

Scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have initiated a phase 1 clinical trial to reverse type 1 diabetes. The trial is exploring whether the promising results from the laboratory of Denise Faustman, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, can be applied in human diabetes.

Restricting insulin doses increases mortality risk

yvette — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:42:59 -0500

A new study led by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center has found that women with type 1 diabetes who reported taking less insulin than prescribed had a three-fold increased risk of death and higher rates of disease complications than those who did not skip needed insulin shots. The new research appears in the March issue of Diabetes Care.

Prostate treatment has risks

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:53:41 -0400

A treatment mainstay for prostate cancer puts men at increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a large observational study published in the Sept. 20 Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"Men with prostate cancer have high five-year survival rates, but they also have higher rates of noncancer mortality than healthy men," says study author Nancy Keating, assistant professor of health care policy and of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). "This study shows that a common hormonal treatment for prostate cancer may put men at significant risk for other serious diseases. Patients and physicians need to be aware of the elevated risk as they make treatment decisions."

Molecule predicts type 2 diabetes

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:10:54 -0400

A study in the June 15, 2006, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine reveals that elevated levels of a molecule called RBP4 (retinol binding protein 4) can foretell early stages in the development of insulin resistance, a major cause of type 2 diabetes as well as cardiovascular disease.

The new findings, led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), offer a potential new target for the development of anti-diabetic therapies to lower serum RBP4 levels as well as an early means of identifying individuals who are at risk of developing diabetes - before the onset of overt disease.

"Type 2 diabetes is a rapidly increasing epidemic in the Western world," explains senior author Barbara Kahn, MD, chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at BIDMC and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Since it is now occurring even in childhood, predictions indicate that it could shorten lifespan in the U.S. for the first time in more than a century."

Insulin resistance develops when the body's muscles, fat and liver cells lose the ability to respond to the hormone insulin. Because insulin is necessary to enable the body to take up sugar from blood and convert it into energy, this impairment results in a buildup of glucose in the bloodstream.

"Insulin resistance not only predisposes individuals to type 2 diabetes, it is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease," adds co-lead author Timothy Graham, MD, an investigator in the Kahn laboratory. "Unfortunately, in the clinical setting, it is often difficult to distinguish individuals with and without insulin resistance."

Study shows different insulin signaling components control glucose and lipid metabolism in the liver

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:27:20 -0400

Insulin uses two distinct mechanisms to control glucose and the metabolism of blood fats (lipids) in the liver, a new Joslin Diabetes Center-led study has discovered. Failures in each of these networks can lead to serious health problems: the breakdown of glucose metabolism that can lead to type 2 diabetes, and the malfunction of lipid metabolism contributing to metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of conditions that puts people at increased risk of heart disease, vascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

The new study, led by C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., and Cullen Taniguchi, M.D., Ph.D., of Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston and their colleagues, is published in the May 2006 edition of Cell Metabolism. The findings open the door to the development of new treatments that one day may target directly the conditions that contribute to type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. "Patients with the metabolic syndrome have high levels of both glucose and lipids in the blood. We now understand that insulin that controls the pathways that control glucose levels are different from those that regulate lipid levels. By targeting these specific pathways, we might be able to improve problems with glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism or both," says Kahn, president of Joslin Diabetes Center and Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Study provides first physiological evidence that insulin is critical for blood vessel formation

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:24:49 -0400

For people with type 2 diabetes, the death rate from a first heart attack is two to three times the death rate of patients without the disease. Similarly, patients with diabetes and ischemic (reduced blood flow) heart disease have a much higher mortality rate than the general population.

Internet discussion group provides an inspiring, supportive 'oasis' for people with diabetes, Joslin study shows

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:42:36 -0400

A study that appears in the November/December 2005 issue of The Diabetes Educator examined the impact of Joslin's Online Discussion Boards - forums in which people with diabetes can find information and share thoughts and experiences on specific diabetes issues.

Established in 1998, the free service on Joslin's Web site (http:// www.joslin.org/) allows people from around the world to log on and post questions or comments about their diabetes-related concerns. The postings are moderated by a team of Joslin specialists, including physicians, nurse educators, dietitians, psychologists and exercise physiologists, all of whom can offer important perspectives about diabetes care.

"There's a strong therapeutic effect from posting on the board," says the study's lead investigator, John F. Zrebiec, M.S.W., C.D.E., a clinical social worker at Joslin and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School. "Diabetes can be a lonely disease," he says. While face-to-face support groups can help remedy isolation, for many people coming into a new group can be a "very anxiety-provoking experience," Zrebiec says. "Entering a group via the Internet can feel much less threatening and gives people an opportunity to talk about themselves in a much more anonymous way."

For the study, Zrebiec, who runs several of the discussion boards, tracked more than 330,000 visits to the discussion boards over a period of six years. In 1999 and again in 2004, computer-based customer satisfaction surveys were e-mailed directly to some of the board's registered users.

Nearly 75 percent of respondents to the study's 2004 survey rated participation in the discussion board as having a positive effect on coping with diabetes. As one woman commented, "I have found an oasis where I can be encouraged, inspired and educated by people who sincerely understand my struggles."

What's more, 71 percent of respondents stated participation helped them to feel more hopeful. One user, a representative of many, found the discussion board to be an online lifeline. "Here in Spain, I have no support," she commented. "I honestly don't know what I would do without the support I find here. It really has transformed my life and had a positive influence on the way I cope with diabetes."

Moms who breastfeed may be protected from type 2 diabetes

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:42:34 -0400

Researchers have demonstrated that breastfeeding a child for one year may reduce a woman's risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 15 percent. This study appeared in the Nov. 23, 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"We've known for a long time that breastfeeding is good for babies," said lead author and Brigham and Women's Hospital researcher Alison Stuebe, MD. "In this study, we found that it's good for moms, too."

The production of milk requires a breastfeeding mother to use an average of 500 calories each day - the equivalent of running four to five miles. According to Stuebe, the additional energy required for lactation is associated with short-term changes in insulin, and glucose. Her study was among the first to look at the long-term association between breastfeeding and incidence of type 2 diabetes. "Our study supports the theory that breastfeeding may be associated with important metabolic changes that influence diabetes risk," she said. "However, more research is needed to determine what hormonal and biological factors are involved."

Study identifies fat-secreted protein linked to insulin resistance

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:10:39 -0400

According to senior author Barbara B. Kahn, M.D., chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at BIDMC, these findings in mice and humans show that elevated levels of retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) contribute to insulin resistance, a primary risk factor for diabetes.

Produced by the pancreas, insulin helps cells take in glucose and convert the sugar to energy. In insulin-resistant individuals, the body's cells cannot properly respond to the hormone, resulting in a build-up of glucose and insulin in the blood, which can lead to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Earlier work in Kahn's lab had focused on the role of the glucose transporter protein GLUT4 in insulin resistance. Knowing that down-regulation of GLUT4 expression in fat tissue is an almost universal feature of insulin-resistant states, Kahn's lab developed two transgenic mouse models: one with fat cell overexpression of GLUT4 and one with fat cell reduction of GLUT4. They found that the mice with overexpression of GLUT4 demonstrated enhanced glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, while the mice with reduced GLUT4 expression became insulin-resistant and had an increased risk of diabetes.

Kahn's team then conducted a global microarray analysis to identify the protein RBP4 and found elevation of RBP4 can cause insulin resistance and that decrease of the protein in insulin- resistant states would ameliorate the condition.

Study shows new compound may reduce risk of vision loss in patients with diabetes

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:21:31 -0400

The PKC-Diabetic Retinopathy Study (DRS) was designed to evaluate the safety and effect of an oral treatment, RBX, on retinopathy progression or visual loss in patients with moderately severe to very severe nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy. In the study, patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes received either RBX or a placebo over three to four years. The study measured the effect of three orally administered doses of RBX on progression of diabetic retinopathy, moderate visual loss and sustained moderate visual loss. The study was conducted at Joslin Diabetes Center and assorted national and international medical centers.

The oral treatment RBX inhibits the activity of the enzyme protein kinase C. PKC is essential to the normal production of energy in the body, but one form of the enzyme - PKC-beta - has been linked to diabetic complications of the eye and other parts of the body. Thus RBX was designed to be selective for the single PKC-beta isoform.

"Our results demonstrate that although RBX did not prevent progression to proliferative diabetic retinopathy, it may reduce the risk of moderate vision loss caused by macular edema," said study chairman Lloyd Paul Aiello, M.D., Ph.D., head of Joslin's section on eye research, director of Joslin's Beetham Eye Institute and associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.

Insulin prods development of type 1 diabetes

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:21:37 -0400

Joslin Diabetes Center researchers Diane Mathis's and Christophe Benoist's finding that the lymph node draining the pancreas was intrinsic to the autoimmune response in mice made David Hafler, HMS professor of neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, wonder if something similar was happening in people.

Low-fat dairy may help reduce risk of type 2 diabetes

50443248 — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:52:45 -0400

The consumption of low-fat dairy foods may reduce men's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study in the May 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. The report from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) - the first large-scale, prospective examination of a relationship between dairy intake and diabetes risk - analyzes data from the HSPH-based Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

Researchers ID antigen for type 1 diabetes

50443248 — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:18:00 -0400

Type 1 diabetes, diagnosed in children and adults, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the pancreas no longer produces insulin. Diabetes, which ranks as the fifth-deadliest disease in the United States, has reached critical proportions, affecting 18.2 million people, or 6.3 percent of the population. To address what many consider a growing epidemic, scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and the Harvard Medical School (HMS) have focused their research on better understanding the mechanisms of the disease.

Study finds men who consume more dairy products have lower incidence of diabetes

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:18:16 -0400

A report from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) - the first large-scale, prospective examination of a relationship between dairy intake and diabetes risk - analyzes data from the HSPH-based Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

"Our study found that men consuming higher levels of dairy products, especially low-fat dairy foods, had a significantly lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes during a 12-year period," says Hyon Choi, director of Outcomes Research in the MGH Rheumatology Unit, the paper's lead author. "However, individuals should consider both the benefits and risks of dairy foods before considering changing their diets."

Lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise and weight are established risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Several recent studies have suggested that dairy consumption may help control weight and blood pressure and reduce the risks of health problems such as coronary artery disease and gout. Other research has implied that dairy foods could help prevent insulin resistance, a precursor of type 2 diabetes. The researchers conducted the current study to directly examine the relationship between dairy consumption and diabetes.