Exclusive: According to scientists, people with type 1 diabetes may eventually
only need to inject themselves once a week.
Researchers have created the "holy grail" insulin, which can react
instantly to fluctuations in blood sugar levels and might completely change the
way millions of type 1 diabetics are treated globally.
Currently, in order to survive, patients must inject themselves synthetic
insulin up to ten times each day. Blood sugar levels that are constantly rising
or falling can lead to both immediate and long-term physical health problems.
The effort to maintain stable levels can also have an impact on an individual's
mental well-being.
Experts claim that scientists have
discovered a treatment that, when taken as prescribed, is as close to curing
type 1 diabetes as any medication therapy could: intelligent insulin, which
remains dormant in the body until called upon. Novel insulins that react
quickly in real time to changes in blood sugar levels have been successfully
created by researchers in the US, Australia, and China.
Once they have done their work, standard insulins usually cannot aid with
future swings in blood sugar levels. Instead, they stabilise blood sugar levels
when they enter the body. It implies that within a few hours, patients
frequently need to inject more insulin.
In an effort to avoid hyperglycemia,
the new glucose-responsive insulins (GRIs) only activate when blood sugar
levels reach a specific level. When levels fall below a particular threshold,
they revert to inactive state, preventing hypoglycemia (low blood glucose).
Experts predict that individuals may eventually only require insulin once each
week.
Millions of pounds in funds have been given to scientists to expedite the
development of the smart insulins. The funding is provided by Diabetes UK,
JDRF, and the Steve Morgan Foundation through the Type 1 Diabetes Grand
Challenge. It is putting £50 million into state-of-the-art research to aid in
the discovery of novel type 1 diabetes medicines.
Smart insulin may usher in a new age
in the fight against diabetes, according to Dr. Tim Heise, vice-chair of the
scientific advisory council for novel insulins for the Type 1 Diabetes Grand
Challenge. "People with type 1 diabetes must work very hard to manage
their diabetes on a daily basis in order to strike a decent balance between
maintaining satisfactory glycaemic control and preventing hypoglycemia, even
with the current generation of insulins.
"The holy grail of insulin is thought to be glucose-responsive, or
"smart," insulins since they would be the closest medication therapy
has to curing type 1 diabetes.
Six research initiatives that have
created various kinds of smart insulins have received funding totalling over £3
million. These consist of groups from Zhejiang University in China, Stanford
University in the United States, and Monash University in Australia. The goal
is to expedite development and get trials underway as soon as feasible.
The goal of every effort is to fine-tune smart insulin so that it acts more
quickly and accurately, easing part of the extreme load of controlling type 1
diabetes and lowering the likelihood of long-term problems. Only testing GRIs
is the focus of four of the projects.
A fifth has created a brand-new,
extremely quick-acting insulin. The time it takes for an insulin to begin acting
on blood glucose levels still lags, even with the quickest insulins now on the
market. As a result, blood glucose may increase to dangerous levels before
insulin has a chance to reduce it.
Faster insulin is also required to enhance the performance of hybrid closed
loop technology, which depends on the stored insulin reacting instantly to
variations in blood glucose levels, and insulin pumps
The sixth project focusses on a
protein that joins the hormones glucagon and insulin. When blood glucose levels
fall, glucagon stimulates the liver to release additional glucose, in contrast
to insulin, which aids in removing glucose from the blood. By preventing both
high and low blood glucose levels, combining the two hormones in one
formulation may help to maintain stable blood glucose levels.
According to Heise, "the six newly funded research projects address major
shortcomings in insulin therapy." "Thus, if successful, these
research projects could potentially usher in a new era in insulin
therapy."
"While insulin has been saving
lives for over a century and prior research has led to significant changes for
people with type 1, it is still not good enough – managing glucose levels with
insulin is really tough, and it's time for science to find ways to lift that
burden,” stated Rachel Connor, director of research partnerships at JDRF UK.
"We hope these six projects will help to create that new reality by
imagining a world where insulins can respond to changing glucose levels in
real-time, relieving people with type 1 of the relentless demands that living with
this condition places on them today."
The initiatives might completely
change how type 1 diabetes is treated, according to Diabetes UK's director of
research, Dr. Elizabeth Robertson. Our goal in funding these innovative
research projects is to create new insulins that more closely resemble the
body's physiological reactions to fluctuations in blood sugar.
This could greatly lessen the difficulties associated with controlling type 1
diabetes on a daily basis and enhance the physical and mental well-being of
persons who have the illness. We expect that this research will result in
improvements in type 1 diabetes care that will change people's lives.
Source theguardian.com
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