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Aspirin-Enzyme-Diabetes Link Found
Excerpt
By Paul Recer, Associate Press
WASHINGTON
(AP) - In a discovery that may lead to new therapies for type
2 diabetes, researchers have solved a decades-old mystery of why
high doses of aspirin lower blood sugar levels and make cells
more sensitive to insulin.
In 1876,
a doctor discovered that his diabetic patients improved with doses
of an aspirin-like drug. He reported the result, but there was
little interest by others.
In 1901 and
later in the 1950s, still other doctors also found that diabetics
seemed to get better for a time on large doses of aspirin. But
nobody knew why this happened and there was no follow up.
Until now.
Researchers at Harvard University and the University of California,
San Diego, report Friday in the journal Science that in studies
using diabetic mice they have found that high doses of aspirin
block the action of an enzyme called ikB kinase Beta, or ikkBeta,
and that this, in turn, causes the body to be more sensitive to
insulin. The result is that blood sugar levels drop.
``This study
helps us understand what causes insulin insensitivity due to obesity
and a high fat diet,'' said Dr. Steven E. Shoelson, a researcher
at the Joslin Diabetes Center and the Harvard Medical School in
Boston and lead author of the study.
Although
aspirin can have some effect against diabetes over time, Shoelson
said the dosage required is dangerous. To lower blood sugar in
a diabetic, he said, would require 6-8 grams of aspirin for long
periods of time. Two regular aspirin tablets are about 0.65 grams.
High doses
of aspirin, although used for some disorders, can cause serious
side effects, such as intestinal bleeding, dizziness and nausea.
``We strongly
recommend against anybody considering treating their diabetes
with aspirin,'' Shoelson said.
What Shoelson
and his co-workers are now looking for is a chemical molecule
that blocks the action of ikkBeta without the side effects of
aspirin.
``We now
have a defined protein target and we are trying to find drugs
against it,'' he said.
Some preliminary
studies in mice have been promising, said Shoelson, but it will
take years of research before any result can be tried in humans.
Dr. Marjorie
Mau, a diabetes researcher at the University of Hawaii, said ``it
would be exciting'' if the researchers develop a new enzyme target
for a diabetes drug, but she cautioned that much more study is
needed before such a drug could ever be offered to patients.
``There is
a lot of stuff that looks promising in mice that just doesn't
pan out over time,'' she said. ``It is a long way to the clinic
and mice are not humans.''
On the Net:
http://www.eurekalert.org
Reference
Source 102
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