Diabetes: How you could reverse it and it all depends on your hormones

TARGETING specific hormones could help reverse diabetes, scientists have claimed.

With type 1 diabetes, a person’s pancreas produces no insulin, but in type 2, cells in the body become resistant to insulin, so a greater amount of insulin is needed to keep blood glucose levels within a normal range.

GettyMillions of people in the UK suffer with diabetes and experts have found that it could have something to do with your hormones[/caption]

Scientists at Harvard University now say that the way energy is used in the body and how hormones are utilised could be the key.

The experts looked at a particular protein called FAB4, which is secreted by fat cells into the blood stream and is a typical response to starvation.

There is a strong link between FAB4 and conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity.

It’s important to note that the Harvard study was conducted on mice, so it’s not an accurate representation of how the protein would behave in the human body.

The scientists showed that as the FAB4 protein enters the blood stream it binds to enzymes adenosine kinase (ADK) and nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDPK).

These then create a complex protein called fabkin.

They said that it’s during this process that the enzymes are altered and change the levels of the molecules – which play a key role in living cells.

Cells next to these ones then changed in response.

Scientists found cells that took part in this process were those that lack in people who have type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

The scientists said that the protein is the driving force behind the development of diabetes.

Senior author Gökhan S. Hotamisligil said: “For many decades, we have been searching for the signal that communicates the status of energy reserves in adipocytes (fat cells) to generate appropriate endocrine responses, such as the insulin production from pancreatic beta cells.

“We now have identified fabkin as a novel hormone that controls this critical function through a very unusual molecular mechanism.”

Writing in the Nature journal the scientists said they deployed an antibody to neutralise the novel hormone in mice that were at risk of diabetes.

They found that it preserved the cells and prevented the animals from developing diabetes.

After administering the antibody to obese and diabetic mice, it reversed their diabetes and turned them back to a healthy state.

The study showed levels of fabkin to be abnormally high in mice and people with both type 1 and 2 diabetes.

They said it’s because of this that it could be a new therapy to target the disease.

Lead author Kacey Prentice, research associate in the Sabri Ülker Center and Department of Molecular Metabolism. said: “The discovery of fabkin required us to take a step back and reconsider our fundamental understanding of how hormones work.

“I am extremely excited to find a new hormone, but even more so about seeing the long-term implications of this discovery.”