Scientists Hail Possible Type 1 Diabetes Cure

Type 1 diabetes may eventually be transformed into a much less serious condition without symptoms or an insulin dependency, according to new findings.

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center learned that eliminating a protein in mice called glucagon, Rift Goldproduced by the pancreas, caused insulin to become irrelevant and stopped it from triggering diabetes or other conditions.

Glucagon is responsible for high blood sugar in type 1 diabetes sufferers, but it prevents blood sugar from getting too low in healthy people.

"We've all been brought up to think insulin is the all-powerful hormone without which life is impossible, but that isn't the case," the study's senior author Dr. Roger Unger,RIFT Platinum professor of internal medicine, said in a statement. "If diabetes is defined as restoration of glucose homeostasis to normal, then this treatment can perhaps be considered very close to a 'cure.' "

But Megan Fendt of the Gerald J. Friedman Diabetes Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center cautioned against making too much of the findings. For one, it has long been known that glucagon and insulin work against each other, since the former is released when blood sugar is too low and the latter when it's too high.rift gold And the research has shortcomings because it was done on mice, she added.

"Having success with a study with animals does not mean that is going to translate into success in the human population," she told AOL Health. "Take it with a grain of salt. It doesn't mean a cure exists right now. ... It's not something we haven't known before. The whole idea of it is not incredibly groundbreaking."

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks the pancreas, destroying its islet cells that produce insulin. Because they have a total insulin deficiency,RIFT Platinum patients with the disease need multiple insulin injections a day to survive and must follow a strict diet.

Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the body does not make enough insulin and doesn't detect it properly. Insulin shots usually aren't necessary until the illness becomes more advanced.

In type 1 diabetes, which afflicts about a million Americans, insulin alone is unable to restore the body's normal tolerance to glucose, or sugar. Getting rid of glucagon can do that, the authors say. The protein is released in healthy people when glucose levels in the blood become too low.

In people with diabetes who don't have insulin, the amount of glucagon is excessively high, which can lead the liver to release too much glucose into the blood. That process is blocked by insulin, which helps cells strip the bloodstream of sugar.

The researchers studied mice that had been genetically wired to have faulty glucagon receptors and gave them an oral glucose tolerance test -- which can be used to diagnose diabetes.

The animals without working glucagon receptors with normal insulin production responded normally to the test and didn't develop diabetes.

"These findings suggest that if there is no glucagon, TERA Goldit doesn't matter if you don't have insulin," Unger said of the Diabetes study.

Unger said insulin is still crucial for proper development, but becomes less critical later in life.

"This does not mean insulin is unimportant. It is essential for normal growth and development from neonatal to adulthood," Unger explained. "But in adulthood, at least with respect to glucose metabolism, the role of insulin is to control glucagon. And if you don't have glucagon, then you don't need insulin."

Fendt said the research lays the groundwork for finding a better treatment for type 1 diabetes.

"It's a good start -- the fact that they were able to shut off the glucagon in mice is a step forward -- but we know that glucagon works against insulin already," she told AOL Health.

The paper's lead author Dr. Young Lee hopes the research will ultimately lead to a cure for diabetes in humans.

"Hopefully, these findings will someday help those with type 1 diabetes," Lee said in a statement. "If we can find a way to block the actions of glucagon in humans, then maybe we can minimize the need for insulin therapy."