Injection-free treatment for diabetes patients?
19 November 2008
A compound found in garlic is the basis of a potential orally-
available drug candidate for types 1 and 2 diabetes.
"Diabetes incidence is increasing worldwide, and there is a continuing
need to develop effective treatments"Diabetes incidence is increasing
worldwide, and there is a continuing need to develop effective
treatments. Exisiting treatments involve either injection with insulin
(primarily for sufferers of type 1 diabetes), or treatment with drugs
(for type 2 diabetes). However, says Hiromu Sakurai, of the Suzuka
University of Medical Science, Japan, neither method is ideal, as they
involve frequent injections, and the drugs have undesirable side-
effects.
In earlier work, Sakurai's group had shown that a complex of vanadium
and allixin, a compound found in garlic, lowered blood glucose levels
in mouse models of both types 1 and 2 diabetes and that the effect was
maintained for type 2 model mice given the complex orally. In its
latest study the team found that the orally administered complex also
lowered glucose levels in type 1 model mice, offering hope for an
injection-free treatment for people with type 1 diabetes.
The vanadyl complex of garlic-compound allixin lowers blood glucose in
diabetes models
The new study looked primarily at how the allixin complex works. By
examining the effects of the complex on genes affected by diabetes,
the researchers found that it activates not only the insulin
signalling cascade, which regulates glucose metabolism, but also an
enzyme that helps cells to absorb glucose.
John McNeill is a professor emeritus in the division of pharmacology
and toxicology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
Canada. He says that although other vanadium compounds have shown
promise for the treatment of diabetes, this investigation is extensive
and 'adds significant information to our understanding of how vanadium
compounds can affect both carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.'
"Allixin and similar complexes could be good candidates for treating
both type 1 and type 2 diabetes"
The researchers say that the allixin and similar complexes could be
good candidates for treating both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Future
work, says Sakurai, will be aimed towards clinical trials of their
complexes in human diabetes patients.
David Barden
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Garlic chemical tablet treats diabetes I and II
19 November 2008
A drug based on a chemical found in garlic can treat diabetes types I
and II when taken as a tablet, a study in the new Royal Society of
Chemistry journal Metallomics says.
When Hiromu Sakurai and colleagues from the Suzuka University of
Medical Science, Japan, gave the drug orally to type I diabetic mice,
they found it reduced blood glucose levels.
The drug is based on vanadium and allaxin, a compound found in garlic,
and its action described in an Advance Article from Metallomics
available free online from today. The first issue of the new journal
will be published in 2009.
In previous work they had discovered the vanadium-allaxin compound
treated both diabetes types when injected, but this new study shows
the drug has promise as an oral treatment for the disease.
Type I diabetes (insulin dependent) is currently treated with daily
injections of insulin, while type II (non-insulin dependent) is
treated with drugs bearing undesirable side-effects - the authors note
neither treatment is ideal.
The researchers aim to test the drug in humans in future work.
ReferencesMakoto Hiromura, Metallomics, 2009, DOI: 10.1039/b815384c
Who loves ya.
Tom
Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://tinyurl.com/634q5a
Man Is A Herbivore!
http://tinyurl.com/4rq595
DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
http://tinyurl.com/zk9fk
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