The ADA 67th Scientific Sessions in Chicago started today and there has been a noisy buzz on everything diabetes. However, what got my interest more is the research development on oral insulin. The Type 1 diabetics are dependent on insulin. While the type 2 diabetics do not, still at a later stage, they will insulin as well. At the moment, insulin is only available by injection. Of course there are ongoing trials and investigation on oral insulin, but as far as I know, there is nothing approved in the market yet, and everything is still investigational. Here are a few recent lead stories I got on oral insulin:
'Insulin pill" hope for diabetes - a UK company, Diabetology and Cardiff University experts may have solved the previous setback on oral insulin with their capsules' special coating that protects the drug from acids in the stomach, which will allow it to pass into the small intestine where it is absorbed.
Capsules against diabetes - Biotechnologists at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have developed a new type of alginate capsule -called TAM (the Trondheim Alginate Microcapsule) - that could solve the problem of the body's immune system recognizing and attacking alien, implanted insulin cells. The say that the gel capsule is designed with a view to camouflage the insulin-producing cells to the body's immune system.
Also, since the type 2 diabetes is characterized by being insensitive to insulin leading to high sugar levels, a leading a team of researchers from Ohio University, Athens (led by John Kopchick) to believe that the condition can alter the abundance of various skin proteins, which thereby makes the skin a possible alternative in diagnosing type 2 diabetes. Kopchick and his colleagues decided to see whether they could detect protein changes in the skin of mice that are specially bred to gain weight and develop diabetes when fed fatty food. The results, although may potentially diagnose diabetes through the skin, are still being studied further whether the changes in skin protein biomarkers are due to diabetes alone and not obesity - since obesity is usually a precursor of type 2 diabetes.
However, if the study proved to be successful in human, we are looking at a future of a dermal diagnostic tool that will detect type 2 diabetes even before the symptoms appear. This method can also have possible applications in other serious diseases.
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