XML Feed for RxPG News   Add RxPG News Headlines to My Yahoo!   Javascript Syndication for RxPG News

Research Health World General
 
  Home
 
 Latest Research
 Cancer
 Psychiatry
 Genetics
 Surgery
 Aging
 Ophthalmology
 Gynaecology
 Neurosciences
 Pharmacology
 Cardiology
 Obstetrics
 Infectious Diseases
 Respiratory Medicine
 Pathology
 Endocrinology
  Diabetes
   NIDDM
   Insulin Resistance
 Immunology
 Nephrology
 Gastroenterology
 Biotechnology
 Radiology
 Dermatology
 Microbiology
 Haematology
 Dental
 ENT
 Environment
 Embryology
 Orthopedics
 Metabolism
 Anaethesia
 Paediatrics
 Public Health
 Urology
 Musculoskeletal
 Clinical Trials
 Physiology
 Biochemistry
 Cytology
 Traumatology
 Rheumatology
 
 Medical News
 Health
 Opinion
 Healthcare
 Professionals
 Launch
 Awards & Prizes
 
 Careers
 Medical
 Nursing
 Dental
 
 Special Topics
 Euthanasia
 Ethics
 Evolution
 Odd Medical News
 Feature
 
 World News
 Tsunami
 Epidemics
 Climate
 Business
 
 India
Search

Last Updated: Nov 18, 2006 - 12:32:53 PM

Diabetes Channel
subscribe to Diabetes newsletter

Latest Research : Endocrinology : Diabetes

   DISCUSS   |   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Netrins hold potential for treating diabetes
Jul 1, 2006 - 4:04:00 PM, Reviewed by: Dr. Sanjukta Acharya

"We now have a (growth) factor that attracts both blood vessels and nerves--that's why it's unique for diabetes"

 
University of Utah researchers have taken a potentially powerful new therapy for treating diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, and other illnesses out of the test tube and into animals by demonstrating it restores nerve and blood vessel growth in mice.

The research has particularly important implications for the estimated 21 million Americans with diabetes, a disease that damages both nerves and blood vessels.

The therapy involves netrins, a family of proteins that promotes nerve development. In a study to be published this week in the journal Science Express, the Utah researchers and colleagues from other universities showed netrins not only accelerated blood vessel growth in ischemic mice (those with constricted blood flow) but they also restored blood vessel and nerve growth in diabetic mice. Dean Y. Li, M.D., Ph.D., a cardiologist and associate professor of internal medicine at the University's School of Medicine, is the study's corresponding author.

"We now have a (growth) factor that attracts both blood vessels and nerves--that's why it's unique for diabetes," Li said. "This demonstrates that netrins are critical for development and may be important as a new therapy."

Li and fellow researchers from the University of Utah and Stanford already had shown Netrin-1, a member of the netrins family, promotes blood vessel growth in laboratory cultures. But, until now, it had not been demonstrated that netrins work in animals.

The researchers tested netrins and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a gene-based therapy in Phase 2 clinical trials, in mice. They used the same method to inject netrins and VEGF. In the mice whose blood circulation was decreased by peripheral vascular disease, the researchers found netrins and VEGF promoted blood vessel growth equally well. But in the diabetic mice, netrins proved markedly better at promoting blood vessel and nerve growth than VEGF, according to Li.

Already in Phase 2 clinical trials, VEGF may be available as a therapeutic gene therapy within five years. Gene therapy requires expertise that is available in only a few medical centers. The hope is that netrins could be more effective and may not have to be delivered as a gene therapy, making it available to a much larger group of patients, according to Li.

Proving netrins work in mice is a big step, but Li says it's only a start.

"We have to find a better way to deliver the therapy," he said.

A biopharmaceutical drug would make a good way to give the therapy. As for any drug, to develop and get a therapy approved could take years. If Netrins prove to be a viable therapy and resources are committed to drug development, a netrin-based therapy could be on the market in 10 years, Li said.

Netrins are one of four major classes of neural guidance cues, which induce axons or nerve fibers to extend in specific directions during development. In 2004, Li and his colleagues showed in laboratory cultures that in addition to promoting nerve growth, Netrin-1 also induced formation of blood vessels.
 

- Journal Science Express
 

www.utah.edu

 
Subscribe to Diabetes Newsletter
E-mail Address:

 

Li conducted the research in conjunction with the laboratories of Chi-Bin Chien, Ph.D., associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the University of Utah, and Douglas W. Losordo, of the Division of Cardiovascular Research at Tufts University. The co-first authors include Brent D. Wilson, M.D., a post-doctoral fellow, and Kye Won Park and Arminda Suli, graduate students at the University of Utah.

Li's research into netrin-based therapy for blood vessel and nerve growth is promising enough that he recently received a $750,000 grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund to continue his work. This grant is awarded each year to ten researchers nationwide whose science directly impact clinical medicine.

The American Heart Association also awarded him a $500,000 Established Investigator Award, for a total of $1.25 million to advance this research.

The University of Utah Health Sciences Center is internationally regarded for its research and clinical expertise in the health sciences. Through its School of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, College of Nursing, College of Health, and Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, the Health Sciences Center conducts pioneering research in human genetics, pharmaceutical drugs, cancer, and numerous other areas of medicine. The Health Sciences Center also is the major training ground for Utah's physicians, pharmacists, nurses, therapists, and other health-care professionals.


Related Diabetes News

Diabetes is an independent predictor of acute organ failure and subsequent death
Insulin resistance in early teens may predict diabetes
Low-fat vegan diet rivals oral diabetes medications
Conjugated linoleic acids in dairy products targets diabetes
TrialNet - Can Type 1 diabetes be prevented?
Infections Link With diabetes
Netrins hold potential for treating diabetes
Coffee might reduce risk of type 2 diabetes
Race may be risk factor for insulin resistance
Impaired blood vessel responses seen in children of diabetics


For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 

© Copyright 2004 onwards by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited
Contact Us