Protein discovery that could reverse the damage of diabetes: Breakthrough could lead to cheap drug that would halt disease

·        Scientists find treatment for type 2 diabetes which could reverse disease

·        They found that a protein produced in the body cured the disease in mice

·        Researchers confident the process can easily be replicated in humans

·        Raises hopes of a cheap drug which could halt one of the world's fastest growing diseases

Scientists have discovered a treatment for type 2 diabetes which could reverse the disease.

The researchers found that a protein which is already naturally produced in the body cured the disease in mice and they are confident that it could be easily replicated in humans. 

The breakthrough raises hope of a cheap drug which could effectively halt one of the world’s fastest growing diseases.

The protein, called FGF1, already plays a natural role in human cell growth and tissue repair - but it never usually enters the blood stream.

Diabetes experts found that when the protein was injected into a muscle and interacted with the blood, it dramatically reduced blood sugar levels.

Crucially, the protein also seems to reverse the root cause of type 2 diabetes - making the metabolic system react to insulin when it had been failing to do so.

In obese mice with a rodent version of type 2 diabetes, just one injection of the protein FGF1 restored blood sugar levels to a healthy range for more than two days.

Continued treatment with the protein reversed insulin insensitivity, they found.

People with type 2 diabetes gradually become less sensitive to the effects of the hormone, forcing up their blood sugar.

Professor Ronald Evans, of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, said: ‘This is a big deal - this treatment is very simple to make. We are at a very early stage but we know all about this protein already so we have a head start.

‘Type 2 diabetes is an epidemic in the modern world and current treatments are not sufficient – it is not properly controlled.

‘This treatment offers a new method to control glucose, in a powerful, potent and very unexpected way.

‘The fact that simple reintroducing the protein to the body in a different way had such an impact was quite surprising.’ 

Currently available diabetes treatments aim to boost insulin levels and reverse insulin resistance by altering gene activity.

But the drugs cause unwanted side effects and may lower blood glucose levels too far, leading to life-threatening hypoglycaemia.

The scientists, whose research was published last night in the journal Nature, found that mice lacking the protein quickly developed diabetes when placed on a high fat diet, suggesting that the protein played a key role in managing blood glucose levels.

When they injected FGF1 into obese mice with diabetes to assess the protein’s effect on metabolism, they found, quite by accident, that a single dose rapidly caused blood sugar to drop to normal levels.

Dr Michael Downes, also from the Salk Institute, added: ‘Many previous studies that injected FGF1 showed no effect on healthy mice.

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The breakthrough raises hopes of a cheap drug which could effectively halt one of the world's fastest growing diseases

‘However, when we injected it into a diabetic mouse, we saw a dramatic improvement in glucose.’ 

FGF1 had a number of advantages over existing diabetes drugs, which are associated with side effects ranging from unwanted weight gain to dangerous heart and liver problems.

The scientists do not fully understand how the protein works, but they hope that others will start researching its properties.

Professor Evans said: ‘There are many questions that emerge from this work and the avenues for investigating FGF1 in diabetes and metabolism are now wide open.

‘We think that when others see these findings they will jump in and help with their own research.’ 

Type 2 diabetes, the kind that develops in adulthood and is linked to lifestyle, can reduce life expectancy and lead to complications such as blindness and amputation that seriously affect quality of life. 

Its core problem is the inability of the body to respond to insulin in the way it should.

It differs from type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disorder that is normally present from childhood and occurs when the body cannot produce its own insulin.