Diet-induced diabetes in mice is equivalent to human type 2 diabetes. A new study found that a single injection of protein FGF1 is sufficient to restore blood glucose levels in mice to the normal range, and this effect of FGF1 lasts for more than two days. This discovery was completed by Salk scientists and published in Nature. The new research findings may lead to a new generation of safer and more effective diabetes treatment drugs.
The research team found that continuous protein FGF1 treatment not only controls blood sugar, but also reverses insulin insensitivity (the fundamental physiological cause of diabetes). Equally exciting, the newly discovered therapeutic protein FGF1 does not cause the side effects common to current diabetes treatment drugs.
The purpose of diabetes drugs currently on the market is to increase insulin levels and reverse insulin resistance to lower blood glucose levels. But drugs such as Byetta (which increases the production of insulin in the body) can cause blood sugar levels to be too low, leading to life-threatening hypoglycemia and other side effects.
In 2012, Evans and his colleagues discovered that the long neglected growth factor FGF1 has a hidden function: it helps the body respond to insulin. Mice lacking the growth factor FGF1 will develop diabetes quickly when given a high-fat diet. This finding indicates that FGF1 plays a key role in regulating blood sugar levels.
Evans team injected a single dose of FGF1 into obese mice with diabetes to evaluate the potential effect of protein FGF1 on metabolism. The researchers were surprised to find that after a single dose of FGF1, the blood glucose levels of all diabetic mice dropped rapidly to normal levels.
Many previous studies believed that FGF1 injection had no effect on healthy mice. However, when FGF1 was injected into diabetic mice, we saw a significant improvement in glucose levels. Researchers have found that FGF1 treatment has many advantages over the diabetes drug pioglitazone (Actos). Pioglitazone has side effects, which can cause weight gain and cause heart and liver problems.
It is important that FGF1 did not trigger these side effects or cause blood sugar levels to drop to dangerously low levels even at high doses. On the contrary, injection of FGF1 can restore the mice's own ability to naturally regulate insulin and blood sugar levels, maintain blood sugar levels within a safe range, and effectively reverse the core symptoms of diabetes.
For FGF1, we have not found that it causes hypoglycemia or other common side effects. This may be because FGF1 is quickly metabolized in the body and targets specific cell types. At present, the mechanism by which FGF1 regulates blood sugar levels and insulin resistance is still not fully understood. The signaling pathways and receptors that interact with FGF1 are the first problem researchers want to solve. In addition, they also plan to carry out FGF1 human trials, but this requires Time to fine-tune the protein to make it a therapeutic drug.