Targeting Insulin Resistance Instead of Hyperglycemia in Type 2 Diabetes
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An international team coordinated by researcher Vincent Marion, PhD, deputy director of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm)/University of Strasbourg Medical Genetics Laboratory, has published the results of its research on a molecule called PATAS in the journal Diabetes. This drug could herald a new therapeutic era in type 2 diabetes. Medscape Medical News interviewed Marion about this molecule.
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@diganto In fact, PATAS specifically targets adipocytes by restoring glucose absorption in those cells, thereby reestablishing the metabolic physiology of adipose tissue. Fat cells control insulin resistance by absorbing 10% of circulating glucose. This fuels a process that is very beneficial in the case of adipose tissue, namely lipogenesis. Therefore, we are not targeting an indication with antihyperglycemic treatment, but rather with "insulin-resistance treatment," because this mechanism represents the root of the problem in type 2 diabetes, in hepatic steatosis and fibrosis, and in associated cardiovascular diseases. Improving the physiology of adipose tissue restores lipid homeostasis. Until now, adipose tissue has been overlooked or even ignored in diabetes treatment research on the pretext that it absorbs only a small amount of circulating glucose.