http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/05/07/mayo.led.research.team.develop.agents.keep.insulin.working.longer .
Apparently, researchers at Mayo Clinic have synthesized an inhibitor so that insulin can work longer in the body. All I can picture is people going into hypoglycemic state and nothing else. I’m still scratching my head trying to understand how this is going to be useful in diabetes treatment…can anyone help me out with ideas?
Hmmm. Perhaps lower insulin doses that would be more efficient based on this statement from the article: “Normally, about half of the insulin produced by the pancreas is immediately destroyed by the liver; no one knows why this occurs but it may be a way to regulate how much insulin enters the bloodstream.” Smaller doses would also help with weight gain from insulin.
Maybe the inhibitor might assist with extending the duration of basal insulin, for those who don’t pump.
Would give new twists to calculating insulin on board.
Good point about the weight gain reduction, Gerri! And I like your idea about lower basals, too. But it would be really tricky tailoring your insulin ratios once you start taking the inhibitor.
Maybe we’d take a set amount of insulin & figure ratios for dosing the inhibitor:)
I think your right! I’m not sure what are the benefits of making it longer than 24 hours?
wouldn’t want to make a mistake with that. You could be low for days. lol
I’m thinking this would be more useful for people with type 2 diabetes than type 1. It would probably help because the insulin their bodies produced would stick around and work longer, so their pancreas wouldn’t have to work so hard pumping out high levels to overcome insulin resistance. I think for type 1s it would just be adding yet another variable into the already complex equation of how much insulin is in our system at any given time.
Wow, this has so many possible applications…here are 10 I can think of and I am sure there are more.
- reducing the amount insulin needed to lower BG
- better predictable insulin activity patterns
- more affective use of your own insulin
- decreasing the stress on the pancreas to produce the insulin needed and the insulin that will normally get destroyed by the body
- better understanding how insulin works in the body
- pre-diabetes treatment
- potential link to the destruction of insulin producing cells
- identify if someone’s insulin resistance it due to the body’s destruction of insulin or other factors that may be targeted for treatment
- endocrine relationship to the destruction of other hormones in the body.
This may be a new drug for T2 treatment since over 200 million is the figure given for Type 2s.
“The discovery may lead to drugs that diabetics can use to help insulin work better and longer, says the study’s lead researcher, Malcolm Leissring, Ph.D., from Mayo Clinic’s Department of Neuroscience. Diabetes affects over 200 million people worldwide, and the incidence is growing at an alarming rate, so new treatments are greatly needed, he says.”
If they could make Lantus last a full 24 hours with use of the inhibitor (only lasted 22 hours for us), but… no longer than 24 hours, that would be worthwhile. Sounds trickly though. Not sure where they are going with this.