International
Congress on Obesity Announces Key Diabetes Discovery
Victorian
scientists reveal strong evidence for a new therapeutic target in the
fight against Type 2 Diabetes.
Professor
Greg Collier, CEO and Managing Director of the Victorian biotech
company, Autogen Limited, announced that the company has recently
discovered a protein in human liver cells that appears to be
intimately related to the development of diabetes. Recent experiments
have shown that the gene, which the researchers have named Tanis, and
it's receptor are markedly increased in diabetes.
However
the announcement reveals that - when the gene is put into human liver
cells - the cells develop diabetes. This major discovery provides a
strong model and mechanism for pharmaceutical and therapeutic
intervention in a disease that costs millions of dollars annually to
treat and control.
Autogen
researchers have isolated the gene that produces this protein. A
provisional patent has been granted for this gene.
Autogen
researchers went on to show a direct relationship between levels of
Beacon in the brain and the probability of developing increased body
weight, indicating the gene may be responsible for causing obesity.
Treating animals with the Beacon protein led directly to the
accumulation of fat, a further sign that the Beacon gene is
critical in the development of obesity.
The
protein that is encoded for by the rat "Beacon" gene is 100%
identical to that encoded for by the human "Beacon" gene.
Interestingly, the human "Beacon" gene on chromosome 19 is
in a position known to contain a gene (or genes) linked to energy
regulation and body fat mass.
Recent
studies on human DNA identified two novel genetic sequence variations
in the beacon gene. Autogen funded researchers in the International
Diabetes Institute and the Southwestern Foundation for Biomedical
Research in San Antonio, Texas, showed that these genetic sequence
variations were strongly associated with percentage body fat, total
fat mass and waist-to-hip ratio, all measures of obesity in humans.
These measures are also important risk factors for cardiovascular
disease, and further analysis of the genetic variations in the human
beacon gene found associations with circulating levels of
triglycerides, total cholesterol and LDL-("bad")-cholesterol.
Therefore it appears that beacon contributes not only to obesity in
humans, but is also associated with some of the adverse consequences
of obesity including cardiovascular disease.
Autogen
Limited works in collaboration with Deakin University and the
International Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, developing one of the
world's largest databases of human serum and DNA samples from isolated
population including Tasmanians, Mauritians and Nauruans and combining
this with their unique animal models of disease
===============================
FACT
Birth
Control Pills help to prevent diabetes:
Women who took oral contraceptives have lower fasting
blood-glucose levels, higher levels of insulin and lower odds of
diabetes compared with those who do not take oral contraceptives.
Diabetes
Care June 2002
