(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Diabetes 2 News [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-06-18

We have another potential cure for Type 2 Diabetes, but the usual caveats apply. This has so far only been tested in mice, so there will be several rounds of study over several years before this can come up to the FDA and other such authorities in other countries. I would love to volunteer when this comes into human clinical trials. CGMs and insulin shots are OK, but they don’t give complete control over blood glucose levels.

My thanks to Jessiestaf for putting this into the Good News Roundup on Monday.

Type 2 diabetes has affected millions across the world, with countless people experiencing daily blood sugar fluctuations and other health complications. Many individuals struggle with insulin resistance, which makes blood glucose levels hard to manage. Emily M. Walker, Ph.D, a research assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, along with colleagues at Michigan Medicine, studied the root causes behind faulty energy production in mitochondria that ultimately affect insulin production, resulting in diabetes. Mounting evidence shows that cellular energy mishaps are closely linked to insulin resistance. The body responds to irregular energy signals by reprogramming cells, which sets off a chain reaction.

Jessiestaf said

I am prediabetic, so this is very good news for me personally, and a lot of people. Like I said science and progress are kicking ass and taking names lately.

The article explains

Mitochondria hold a central spot in human biology because they convert nutrients into energy. When this conversion goes wrong, it can trigger a stress response that leads to poor insulin regulation and elevated blood sugar. Many people with diabetes have experienced this shortfall, but the steps leading up to it were less defined until now. “We wanted to determine which pathways are important for maintaining proper mitochondrial function,” said Walker. The researchers identified a stress response that emerges from damaged mitochondria. By interrupting this stress response with a compound known as ISRIB, their results showed a marked improvement in blood sugar handling in mice.

NIH/PUBMED: Small molecule ISRIB suppresses the integrated stress response within a defined window of activation

Abstract Activation of the integrated stress response (ISR) by a variety of stresses triggers phosphorylation of the α-subunit of translation initiation factor eIF2. P-eIF2α inhibits eIF2B, the guanine nucleotide exchange factor that recycles inactive eIF2•GDP to active eIF2•GTP. eIF2 phosphorylation thereby represses translation. Persistent activation of the ISR has been linked to the development of several neurological disorders, and modulation of the ISR promises new therapeutic strategies. Recently, a small-molecule ISR inhibitor (ISRIB) was identified that rescues translation in the presence of P-eIF2α by facilitating the assembly of more active eIF2B. ISRIB enhances cognitive memory processes and has therapeutic effects in brain-injured mice without displaying overt side effects. While using ISRIB to investigate the ISR in picornavirus-infected cells, we observed that ISRIB rescued translation early in infection when P-eIF2α levels were low, but not late in infection when P-eIF2α levels were high. By treating cells with varying concentrations of poly(I:C) or arsenite to induce the ISR, we provide additional proof that ISRIB is unable to inhibit the ISR when intracellular P-eIF2α concentrations exceed a critical threshold level. Together, our data demonstrate that the effects of pharmacological activation of eIF2B are tuned by P-eIF2α concentration. Thus, ISRIB can mitigate undesirable outcomes of low-level ISR activation that may manifest neurological disease but leaves the cytoprotective effects of acute ISR activation intact. The insensitivity of cells to ISRIB during acute ISR may explain why ISRIB does not cause overt toxic side effects in vivo.

IOW, this therapy can also deal with various virus infections and neurological disorders, including brain injuries.

In Other Diabetes News

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/18/2328367/-Diabetes-2-News?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/