First Successful Laboratory Production Of Human Insulin Announced
South San Francisco, Calif. -- September 6, 1978 -- Genentech, Inc. and City of Hope National Medical Center, a private research institution and hospital in Duarte, California today announced the successful laboratory production of human insulin using recombinant DNA technology. Insulin is a protein hormone produced in the pancreas and used in the metabolism of sugar and other carbohydrates. The synthesis of human insulin was done using a process similar to the fermentation process used to make antibiotics. The achievement may be the most significant advance in the treatment of diabetes since the development of animal insulin for human use in the 1920's. The insulin synthesis is the first laboratory production DNA technology. Recombinant DNA is the technique of combining the genes of different organisms to form a hybrid molecule. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the substances genes are composed of, contains the chemical record in which genetic information is encoded. Scientists at Genentech and City of Hope inserted synthetic genes carrying the genetic code for human insulin, along with the necessary control mechanism, into an E. coli bacterial strain which is a laboratory derivative of a common bacteria found in the human intestine. Once inside the bacteria, the genes were "switched-on" by the bacteria to translate the code into either "A" or "B" protein chains found in insulin. The separate chains were then joined to construct complete insulin molecules. The development of genetically engineered human insulin was funded by Genentech. However, the work was a cooperative effort between Genentech and City of Hope. The synthesis of human insulin gene was accomplished by four scientists at City of Hope Medical Center led by Roberto Crea, Ph.D., and Keichi Itakura, Ph.D. Scien Continue reading >>
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How Insulin Is Made - Material, Manufacture, History, Used, Parts, Components, Structure, Steps, Product
Background Insulin is a hormone that regulates the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood and is required for the body to function normally. Insulin is produced by cells in the pancreas, called the islets of Langerhans. These cells continuously release a small amount of insulin into the body, but they release surges of the hormone in response to a rise in the blood glucose level. Certain cells in the body change the food ingested into energy, or blood glucose, that cells can use. Every time a person eats, the blood glucose rises. Raised blood glucose triggers the cells in the islets of Langerhans to release the necessary amount of insulin. Insulin allows the blood glucose to be transported from the blood into the cells. Cells have an outer wall, called a membrane, that controls what enters and exits the cell. Researchers do not yet know exactly how insulin works, but they do know insulin binds to receptors on the cell's membrane. This activates a set of transport molecules so that glucose and proteins can enter the cell. The cells can then use the glucose as energy to carry out its functions. Once transported into the cell, the blood glucose level is returned to normal within hours. Without insulin, the blood glucose builds up in the blood and the cells are starved of their energy source. Some of the symptoms that may occur include fatigue, constant infections, blurred eye sight, numbness, tingling in the hands or legs, increased thirst, and slowed healing of bruises or cuts. The cells will begin to use fat, the energy source stored for emergencies. When this happens for too long a time the body produces ketones, chemicals produced by the liver. Ketones can poison and kill cells if they build up in the body over an extended period of time. This can lead to serious illne Continue reading >>
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The Great Debate: Natural Animal Or Artificial ‘human’ Insulin?
Home » Diabetic Commonsense » The Great Debate: Natural Animal or Artificial ‘Human’ Insulin? Diabetes commonsense The Great Debate: Natural Animal or Artificial ‘Human’ Insulin? Progress towards becoming a well-balanced diabetic is not helped by the wide range and increasing choice of insulins being put on the market. Is this complication really necessary? Over forty varieties of insulin (3) are advertised and none of them would be on the shelves unless manufacturers could make a profit by selling them. Commonsense tells me to complain loudly about having to find my way and make the right choices through the insulin maze. It does not matter if we select the wrong toothpaste or cat food, but insulin is different. The diabetic community cannot survive without this life-saving drug. We therefore form a captive market and, as any economist will tell you, this creates a perfect opportunity for experts to manipulate and exploit us. Have our gurus the time or inclination to guide us through this jungle of short, medium, long-term and mixed insulins? Do they explain the scientific jargon and help us make a free and informed choice? In this search for the right insulin, newly-diagnosed diabetics, handcuffed by ignorance and fear, are particularly vulnerable. No way can they decide for themselves which insulin to use. They have to be guided by the care team who, in these circumstances, have no option but to take control. Let us hope that sooner rather than later, these fledgling diabetics will be able to fly from the nest and act on their own initiative to make an informed choice of which insulin suits them best. Three clues will help us make up our mind. The first is not to abdicate in favour of the care team or encourage them to steal our melody. The second clue is n Continue reading >>
The History Of A Wonderful Thing We Call Insulin
Since the dawn of time, we have searched for ways to make life easier for us. The modern age has given us some amazing technological advances—what we would do without the internet, our iPhones or high-speed travel? For many people, surviving life without these things sounds rough. However, if you have diabetes, no doubt you’re also a big fan of one particular 20th-century discovery: insulin. Before insulin was discovered in 1921, people with diabetes didn’t live for long; there wasn’t much doctors could do for them. The most effective treatment was to put patients with diabetes on very strict diets with minimal carbohydrate intake. This could buy patients a few extra years but couldn’t save them. Harsh diets (some prescribed as little as 450 calories a day!) sometimes even caused patients to die of starvation. So how did this wonderful breakthrough blossom? Let’s travel back a little more than 100 years ago.… In 1889, two German researchers, Oskar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering, found that when the pancreas gland was removed from dogs, the animals developed symptoms of diabetes and died soon afterward. This led to the idea that the pancreas was the site where “pancreatic substances” (insulin) were produced. Later experimenters narrowed this search to the islets of Langerhans (a fancy name for clusters of specialized cells in the pancreas). In 1910, Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Shafer suggested only one chemical was missing from the pancreas in people with diabetes. He decided to call this chemical insulin, which comes for the Latin word insula, meaning “island.” So what happened next? Something truly miraculous. In 1921, a young surgeon named Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles Best figured out how to remove insulin from a dog’s pancreas. S Continue reading >>
How Did They Make Insulin From Recombinant Dna?
Recombinant DNA is a technology scientists developed that made it possible to insert a human gene into the genetic material of a common bacterium. This “recombinant” micro-organism could now produce the protein encoded by the human gene. Continue reading >>
How Insulin Is Made Using Bacteria
Website Search Description: Synthetic human insulin was the first golden molecule of the biotech industry and the direct result of recombinant DNA technology. Currently, millions of diabetics worldwide use synthetic insulin to regulate their blood sugar levels. Synthetic insulin is made in both bacteria and yeast. Keywords: recombinant dna technology,blood sugar levels,human insulin,biotech industry,diabetics,molecule,bacteria,yeast Synthetic human insulin was the first golden molecule of the biotech industry and the direct result of recombinant DNA technology. Currently, millions of diabetics worldwide use synthetic insulin to regulate their blood sugar levels. Synthetic insulin i Continue reading >>
History Of Insulin
The modern age has been full of amazing technological advances -- high-speed travel, the Internet, blue M&M's... However, if you have type 1 diabetes, you are no doubt a big fan of one particular 20th century innovation: insulin therapy. Before there was insulin therapy, people whose bodies stopped producing the hormone didn't hang around for long; there wasn't much doctors could do for them. In the 19th century, after researchers figured out that the body needs this critical hormone to burn glucose as energy, doctors tried different ways to restart production of insulin in people with type 1 diabetes. Some physicians even tried feeding fresh pancreas to patients. The experiment failed (and probably left more than a few patients begging for a palate-cleansing sorbet), as did the other attempts to replace missing insulin. Finally, in 1922 a former divinity student named Dr. Frederick Banting figured out how to extract insulin from a dog's pancreas. Skeptical colleagues said the stuff looked like "thick brown muck." Banting injected the insulin into the keister of a 14-year-old boy named Leonard Thompson, whose body was so ravaged by diabetes that he weighed only 65 pounds. Little Leonard developed abscesses on his bottom and still felt lousy, though his blood sugar improved slightly. Encouraged, Banting refined the formula for insulin and tried again six weeks later. This time Leonard's condition improved rapidly. His blood sugar dropped from 520 mg/dl to a more manageable 120 mg/dl. He gained weight, and his strength returned. (Poor Lenny -- although his diabetes remained in control for years, he died of pneumonia when he was just 27.) Banting and a colleague, Dr. John Macleod, won the Nobel Prize for their work. Commercial production of insulin for treating diabetes be Continue reading >>
A New Insulin Given Approval For Use In U.s.
The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the marketing of human insulin made artificially from gene-splicing techniques. It is the first such product of genetic engineering to be granted Governmental approval for human use. The new insulin, called Humulin, is manufactured by a technique known as recombinant DNA, which involves inserting human genetic instructions into a bacterium that then produces the drug. The approval by the Food and Drug Administration came five months after application was made by Eli Lilly and Company of Indianapolis, Ind. Normally, such approval takes 20 to 30 months. To Be Available in 1983 The efforts to produce the artificial human hormone commercially began four years ago, after scientists at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif., and Genentech Inc. in South San Francisco first succeeded in producing it in the laboratory. The new insulin is expected by its manufacturer to be available in drug stores without a prescription sometime in 1983. A spokesman for Lilly said Humulin was expected to cost about twice as much initially as the animal insulins now used by an estimated two million of the 10 million diabetics in the United States. Called a Major Step Forward Dr. Henry Miller, the medical officer in charge of Humulin at the F.D.A., said the development was a major step forward in the ''scientific and commercial viability of'' recombinant DNA techniques. ''We have now come of age,'' Dr. Miller said. Dr. Irving L. Spratt, president of the American Diabetes Association, said: ''The announcement is an exciting event in medicine. It demonstrates the melding of intensive research in genetic engineering with complex pharmaceutical production.'' The new insulin is being manufactured by Lilly under license from Genentec Continue reading >>
Ask The Diabetes Team
Question: From the United Kingdom: How is artificial insulin made? Answer: What a great question! I'm not sure how much detail you're interested in, but here is the short answer. Insulin is created in a special non-disease-producing laboratory strain of E. coli bacteria (not the same type that causes diarrhea and kidney problems that you may be familiar with) that has been genetically altered by the addition of the gene for human insulin production. The bacteria produces the insulin which is then chemically harvested from the medium in which the bacteria is grown, purified and prepared for human use. Here is the long answer if you are interested: [Note: the following is adapted from Overview of Biotechnology at the End of the 20th Century. Please see that reference for even more details.] Modern biotechnology began when recombinant human insulin was first marketed in the United States in 1982. The effort leading up to this landmark event began in the early 1970's when research scientists developed protocols to construct vectors, by cutting out and pasting pieces of DNA together to create a new piece of DNA (recombinant DNA), that could be inserted into the bacterium, Escherichia coli (transformation). If one of the pieces of the new DNA included a gene which produced a protein enzyme that broke down a particular antibiotic, the bacterium would be resistant to that antibiotic and could grow in a medium containing it. To the piece of DNA that conferred resistance of Escherichia coli to a particular antibiotic was added the human gene for the making of insulin. If this recombinant DNA containing the human insulin gene was used to transform Escherichia coli,and the bacteria were plated on an agar plate containing the antibiotic, the bacteria that grew contained not only the Continue reading >>
The Discovery Of Insulin: A Medical Marvel For The Sugar Sickness
Eli Lilly and Company News of this miracle drug spread like wildfire, and diabetics rushed to be treated, clinging to hopes of relief. Insulin continued to become purified, and long lasting types were created to reduce the number of daily injections. Biosynthetic Insulin, introduced in 1983, eliminates the need for animal pancreases (Yuwiler 69-70). Synthesized insulin eliminates potential allergic reactions. Most insulins today are chemically identical to natural human insulin (Davidson). Though insulin is the most common option, new treatments include drugs that stimulate beta cells in the pancreas to release more insulin, decrease glucose production in the liver, or make muscles more responsive to insulin (Davidson). However, none of these advancements would be possible without insulin. Continue reading >>
History Of Insulin
Dr Frederick Banting and medical student Charles Best perform experiments on the pancreases of dogs in Toronto, Canada. Professor John Macleod provides Banting and Best with a laboratory to carry out the experiments. When the pancreases are removed the dogs showed symptoms of diabetes. The pancreas was then sliced and ground up into an injectable extract. This is injected a few times a day which helped the dogs to regain health. Given the early success, Macleod wants to see more evidence that the procedure worked and provides pancreases from cows to make the extract which is named ‘insulin’. Bertram Collip, a biochemist, joins the research team to provide help with purifying the insulin to be used for testing on humans. Banting and Best clearly had confidence in the insulin as they were the first humans to test the insulin by injecting themselves with it which caused them to experience weakness and dizziness, signs of hypoglycemia. After the group had experimented enough to gain an understanding of the required doses and how best to treat hypoglycemia, their insulin is deemed ready to be tried on patients. Tweet Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder that results in hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels) due to the body: Being ineffective at using the insulin it has produced; also known as insulin resistance and/or Being unable to produce enough insulin Type 2 diabetes is characterised by the body being unable to metabolise glucose (a simple sugar). This leads to high levels of blood glucose which over time may damage the organs of the body. From this, it can be understood that for someone with diabetes something that is food for ordinary people can become a sort of metabolic poison. This is why people with diabetes are advised to avoid sources of dieta Continue reading >>
All About Insulin - Aboutkidshealth
Insulin is a hormone, a "chemical messenger"in the body.Insulin is produced in the pancreas. It is needed to allow sugars (glucose) from food to enter cells. There, sugar is used to produce the energy needed for the cells to work properly. At first, pancreases from cows and pigs were used produce insulin.In some parts of the world, pork insulin is still on the market.However, since 1983, a product called biosynthetic human insulin has been available.This insulin does not come from human pancreases; it is produced in a laboratory by introducing a synthetic (man-made) human gene into bacteria or yeast. This process produces insulin that is exactly the same as that created in the human pancreas. Through further changes, people can now prepare different insulins (called insulin analogs) with different action times.Today, all children and nearly all adults with diabetesnow receive human insulin products and insulin analogs. rapid-acting (also referred to as fast-acting) Insulins are also described according to their course of action: Onset is the time it takes for the insulin to start working. Peak describes the period when the insulin is working at its strongest. Duration describes the length of time before the effect of the dose wears off. (regular/Humulin R, Iletin II Regular, Novolin-Toronto Buffered) These times represent averages for each preparation. They may vary from person to person, from one injection site to another, and to some extent in the same person from day to day. Insulin is available in premixed doses that combine a rapid or a short acting insulin with an intermediate acting insulin in fixed proportions. The name of the preparation indicates the proportions of the different types of insulin (such as30/70 or 50/50). Premixed insulin is generally not recom Continue reading >>
How Is Synthetic Insulin Made?
Synthetic insulin was first made in 1978 by scientists at Genetech, Inc. and City of Hope National Medical Center. This achievement was a giant step forward in insulin production for people with diabetes. Previously, pig and cattle pancreas glands were the only viable method of production. While sufficient for most diabetics, the use of animals to produce insulin did cause some allergic reactions, as it was not a true human match to insulin. Scientists use recombinant DNA gene technology to synthesize insulin. Insulin is composed of two amino acid chains that are joined together. The “A” chain has 21 amino acids, while the “B” chain has 30. These amino acid chains have a specific order. The process is somewhat complicated so the following is an excerpt from the Genetech press release explaining the actual scientific process: Insulin is a protein hormone composed of two chains of amino acids: an “A” chain and a “B” chain linked together by two disulfide bonds. The “A” chain is composed of 21 amino acids and the “B” chain of 30 amino acids, each arranged in a uniquely ordered sequence. Proteins are made by translating the genetic information which is carried in a cell’s genes. Scientists synthesized in the laboratory genes for the two insulin “A” and “B” chains. This was accomplished by chemically linking together small pieces of DNA sequence and then joining them in a specific manner to form complete genes. Once the genes were synthesized, they were stitched into circular DNA strands called “plasmids” using special enzymes to perform the molecular surgery. Plasmids are rings of DNA which are found within the cell. The newly constructed plasmids containing the transplanted genetic material were introduced into a benign E. coli bacteri Continue reading >>
Discovery Of Insulin
The discovery of insulin was one of the most dramatic and important milestones in medicine - a Nobel Prize-winning moment in science. Witnesses to the first people ever to be treated with insulin saw "one of the genuine miracles of modern medicine," says the author of a book charting its discovery.1 Starved and sometimes comatose patients with diabetes would return to life after receiving insulin. But how and when was the discovery made, and who made it? How and when was insulin discovered? The discovery of insulin did not come out of the blue; it was made on the back of a growing understanding of diabetes mellitus during the nineteenth century. Diabetes itself had been understood by its symptoms as far back as the 1600s - when it was described as the "pissing evile" - and the urination and thirst associated with it had been recognized thousands of years before. A feared and usually deadly disease, doctors in the nineteenth century knew that sugar worsened diabetes and that limited help could be given by dietary restriction of sugar. But if that helped, it also caused death from starvation. Scientists observed the damaged pancreases of people who died with diabetes. In 1869, a German medical student found clusters of cells in the pancreas that would go on to be named after him. Paul Langerhans had discovered the beta cells that produce insulin. Other work in animals then showed that carbohydrate metabolism was impossible once the pancreas was removed - the amount of sugar in the blood and urine rose sharply, and death from diabetes soon followed. In 1889, Oscar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering removed a dog's pancreas to study its effects on digestion. They found sugar in the dog's urine after flies were noticed feeding off it. In humans, doctors would once have diagnose Continue reading >>
Insulin
This article is about the insulin protein. For uses of insulin in treating diabetes, see insulin (medication). Not to be confused with Inulin. Insulin (from Latin insula, island) is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets, and it is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body.[5] It regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and protein by promoting the absorption of, especially, glucose from the blood into fat, liver and skeletal muscle cells.[6] In these tissues the absorbed glucose is converted into either glycogen via glycogenesis or fats (triglycerides) via lipogenesis, or, in the case of the liver, into both.[6] Glucose production and secretion by the liver is strongly inhibited by high concentrations of insulin in the blood.[7] Circulating insulin also affects the synthesis of proteins in a wide variety of tissues. It is therefore an anabolic hormone, promoting the conversion of small molecules in the blood into large molecules inside the cells. Low insulin levels in the blood have the opposite effect by promoting widespread catabolism, especially of reserve body fat. Beta cells are sensitive to glucose concentrations, also known as blood sugar levels. When the glucose level is high, the beta cells secrete insulin into the blood; when glucose levels are low, secretion of insulin is inhibited.[8] Their neighboring alpha cells, by taking their cues from the beta cells,[8] secrete glucagon into the blood in the opposite manner: increased secretion when blood glucose is low, and decreased secretion when glucose concentrations are high.[6][8] Glucagon, through stimulating the liver to release glucose by glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis, has the opposite effect of insulin.[6][8] The secretion of insulin and glucagon into the Continue reading >>
