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The researchers say they now have a three-dimensional picture of how insulin communicates with cells. They hope this will lead to better synthetic insulin.
Insulin is often considered one of the most powerful hormones of the human body. Without this, the human body simply can not work.
Too little or too much insulin can cause high or low blood sugar levels, respectively.
This can have a devastating effect on the ability to perform the simplest tasks, physically or mentally.
Despite the fact that there are a dozen options for synthetic insulin in the current pharmaceutical market, people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes still face a number of daily challenges, such as comparative manufacturing insulin. insulin produced by the pancreas.
The researchers hope however that a recent discovery will ultimately improve the functioning of synthetic insulin.
Through the combined work of experts in structural and cellular biology, as well as specialists in cryo-electronic microscopy and an insulin receptor specialist, the first 3D image accurately showing the way in which l & rsquo; Insulin communicates with the body's cells has been produced. It was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.
"The current insulin therapies are not optimal because they were designed without this missing piece of the puzzle," explained Mike Lawrence, associate professor at the Australian Institute for Medical Research Walter & Eliza Hall in Australia and author of the 39; study.
"With our collaborators in Germany, we have produced the first definitive 3D image of how insulin binds to the surface of cells in order to successfully transmit the vital instructions necessary for the recovery of blood sugar", did he declare. .
Lawrence adds that while it has long been known that insulin signals cells to lower blood glucose levels by binding to a receptor, it is unclear what was actually happening during this interaction.
Funded in part by the Australian National Board of Health and Medical Research, this research and the resulting 3D images show exactly how insulin triggers a decrease in the blood sugar levels of blood cells.
In addition to researchers from the Walter & Eliza Hall Medical Research Institute, this research company also included the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), both located in Germany.
"We had never before seen the detailed changes occurring in the receptor itself, confirming that insulin had successfully transmitted the message to the cell to capture the blood sugar," Lawrence said.
"My colleagues at the institute have carefully developed individual samples of receptor-bound insulin so that our Heidelberg staff can use cryogenic microscopy to capture hundreds of thousands of high-resolution" snapshots "of these samples." -he adds.
The researchers then combined 700,000 two-dimensional snapshots to create a three-dimensional image accurately illustrating what it looks like when insulin binds to a receptor.
"That's when we knew we had the information needed to develop improved insulin therapies that would allow cells to respond properly and perform the functions necessary to lower blood sugar levels," he said. said Lawrence.
The hope is that this discovery will allow pharmaceutical companies to improve the current functioning of synthetic insulin in the body.
Ideally, this would reduce the risk of low and high glucose levels, thus allowing synthetic insulin to function more like insulin produced by the pancreas in a non-diabetic person.
One of the biggest challenges facing people with diabetes who take insulin is that half a unit more than is needed can result in low blood sugar or low blood sugar.
Determine how much insulin to take and when is a complicated estimate. It is based on carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, physical activity, stress and its potential contribution to any insulin still active in the blood obtained by the last insulin injection.
Variables – including activity, stress, menstrual cycles, adrenaline, caffeine and some medications (such as steroids) – quickly affect insulin requirements. But current insulin offerings do not work fast enough or with enough accuracy to easily compensate for these daily variables.
Does this new understanding of how insulin triggers the reaction of cells and reduces blood sugar levels will lead to the development of better insulin treatments for people with diabetes?
Some experts are skeptical.
"This type of discovery adds to the body of knowledge about how insulin works," Gary Scheiner, MS, CDE, Certified Diabetes Educator and author of the book Think Like a Pancreas told Healthline. "Combined with other research, this can lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms behind diabetes."
But Scheiner, who has been living with type 1 diabetes for more than 30 years, doubts that this research alone can radically change today's insulin options.
"It's a bit difficult to say that this will lead to better therapies, at least in the short term," he said. "We always have to administer the right amounts of insulin to the right tissues at the right time to effectively manage glucose levels … and that's a different story."
According to Healthline's DiabetesMine, existing research focusing on "smart" or "smart" insulin has finally gained momentum and is receiving increased funding in the pharmaceutical world.
The "smart" insulin would ideally activate and lower blood sugar only if it was triggered by an increase in blood sugar, to prevent the risk of hypoglycemic events.
However, the global pharmaceutical giants, including Novo Nordisk, Merck, Sanofi and Eli Lilly and Company, are far from testing humans or submitting a product to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
Nevertheless, Lawrence is confident that his recent research will significantly help the manufactured insulin of the future, allowing him to look more closely at the insulin of the human body.
"In the future, pharmaceutical companies will be able to use our data as a" master plan "for designing treatments to optimize insulin consumption by the body," he said.
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