What If Rare Tumor Type Could Hold Diabetes Cure?

Rare benign tumors called insulinomas have the "diagram" for the regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells. This could lead to diabetic drug treatments, researchers say in a new study published in Nature Communications.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, involved an international group of investigators that collected 38 human insulinomas. These rare pancreatic tumors secrete too much insulin, but the researchers hoped they could hold a key to creating healthy cells.

"For the first time, we have a genomic recipe"

"..an actual wiring diagram in molecular terms that demonstrates how beta cells replicate,” said Andrew Stewart, MD, Director of the Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Institute at Icahn.

Because diabetes occurs when there are not enough beta cells or when the beta cells are not producing enough insulin, righting that insulin shortage is the key to treating the disease. The loss of those cells results in type 1 diabetes and the dysfunction of those cells is type 2. The researchers' look at the insulinoma tumors was unique in that it's rare that tumors that are not cancerous are the subject of study.

Dr. Stewart and his team were responsible for research into the drug harmine that was introduced into the literature in 2015 and are now furthering that research with more looks at those insulinoma cells and what can be learned from them. This latest finding illustrates how harmine works, but found more pathways for research into other potential drug developments.

Source: Scienceblog.com