A research team at Ohio State has successfully tested an experimental Type 2 diabetes therapy in mice.
Initially, the scientists found that when they bred mice without a protein called macrophage migration inhibitory factor, or MIF, they were able to eliminate key symptoms of the disease, with better blood sugar control and fewer inflammatory proteins in the blood. They then used the experimental therapy to block MIF and came up with the same result.
"We also found that if we stopped administering the drug, then the blood sugar level would go up," said Associate Professor Abhay Satoskar, who led the study. "This does not present a cure for diabetes, but we think, if it is approved in humans, that it has potential to become an oral drug taken for the long term to control a very common symptom of the disease."
The study appears online and is scheduled for later print publication in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
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