New Target Emerging For Treating Diabetes-related Blood Vessel Damage

New target emerging for treating diabetes-related blood vessel damage

A key enzyme that helps our proteins fold and function properly may also be a good therapeutic target to improve blood vessel health in diseases like diabetes and atherosclerosis, scientists say.
The enzyme is protein disulfide isomerase, or PDI, and scientists have increasing evidence that PDI is essential to the healthy remodeling of the endothelial cells that line our blood vessels and to the production of new blood vessels when we need them. This natural process is called angiogenesis, and it is impaired in diabetes.
"If we know the key mediator causing this, maybe we can target the molecule and treat the problem," says Dr. Masuko Ushio-Fukai, vascular biologist in the Vascular Biology Center at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.
Ushio-Fukai is principal investigator on a new $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to further nail down the target and move toward "therapeutic" angiogenesis.
Her starting point is ROS, or reactive oxygen species. Many of us have heard about ROS, mostly that this natural byproduct of oxygen use is bad for us. But at normal levels, ROS has normal functions, which include working as a signaling molecule to promote angiogenesis. Under the stress of diabetes, endothelial cells produce too much ROS so angiogenesis doesn't work to repair the vasculature.
That's where PDI one comes in. Ushio-Fukai's team has shown that while normal levels of ROS activate PDI, high levels found in diabetes inactivate it.
The research team has evidence of ROS' relationship with one of PDI's major forms, PDIA1, in both normal and Continue reading

Rate this article

Total 1 ratings

Carbohydrates and diabetes: What you need to know

Carbohydrates are our main source of energy and provide important nutrients for good health and a healthy, balanced diet. All the carbohydrates you eat and drink are broken down into glucose. The type, and amount, you consume can make a difference to your blood glucose levels and diabetes management.
The two main types of carbohydrates
Starchy foods: these include bread, pasta, potatoes, yams, breakfast cereals and couscous.
Sugars: these can be divided into naturally occurring and added sugars:
Naturally occurring: sugars found in fruits (fructose) and some dairy foods (lactose).
Added sugars: found in sweets, chocolate, sugary drinks and desserts.
Fibre
This is another type of carbohydrate, which you can’t digest.
Insoluble fibre, such as is found in wholemeal bread, brown rice and wholegrain cereals, helps keep the digestive system healthy.
Soluble fibre, such as bananas, apples, carrots, potatoes, oats and barley, helps to keep your blood glucose and cholesterol under control.
Make sure you eat both types of fibre regularly. Good sources of fibre include fruit and veg, nuts and seeds, oats, wholegrain breads and pulses.
How much?
Everyone needs some carbohydrate every day. The actual amount that you need to eat will depend on your age, activity levels and the goals you – and your family – are trying to achieve, for example trying to lose weight, improve blood glucose levels or improve sports performance. The total amount of carbohydrate eaten will have the biggest effect on your glucose levels.
Insulin and carb counting
If you’re living with diabetes, and take i Continue reading

National Diabetes Statistic Report, 2017

Diabetes cases are beginning to level off, but the number is still enormous: more than 100 million people in the United States have diabetes or prediabetes. Much work still needs to be done.
In July, CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT) released the National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2017. The report presents the “state of the disease” in our nation, providing the most recent scientific data on:
Diabetes incidence (new cases)
Diabetes prevalence (existing cases)
Short- and long-term complications
Risk factors for complications
Prediabetes
Mortality (death rate)
Costs
Diabetes is a serious disease that can often be managed through physical activity, diet, and use of insulin and oral medications to lower blood sugar levels. People with diabetes are at increased risk of additional serious health complications including vision loss, heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputation of toes, feet or legs, and premature death. As many as 2 out of 5 Americans are expected to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime.
Prediabetes is a serious health condition in which a person’s blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough yet to be classified as type 2 diabetes. Without weight loss (for those who need it), healthy eating, and moderate physical activity, many people living with prediabetes will go on to develop type 2 diabetes.
The National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2017 analyzes health data through 2015, providing statistics across ages, races, ethnicities, education levels, and regions. This report reflects a point-in-time analysis, and its da Continue reading

Diabetes and Your Stroke Risk

Saebo
You may not think to connect two different health concerns like stroke and diabetes, but if you have diabetes, you are 1.5 times more likely to suffer a stroke. Why? It has to do with a key player in the body’s regulation of glucose (blood sugar): insulin. If insulin levels are off or it’s not put to proper use in the body, build up results and the likelihood of stroke increases.
Fortunately, there a number of ways to control your diabetes, and if you do that, you simultaneously decrease your risk of having a stroke. The research cited below will help you to understand the link between stroke and diabetes and which steps to take if you’re concerned for your health or that of a loved one with diabetes.
Understanding Diabetes
For our body’s cells to get the energy they need, insulin is required to regulate the process. In a way, it acts as an energy supervisor in breaking down the sugars you eat so they can be converted into energy. Diabetes results when the pancreas doesn’t create insulin, it doesn’t make enough of it, or cells don’t use the hormone correctly.
Diabetes is usually categorized as being Type 1 or 2. Type 1 diabetes typically manifests during childhood or adolescence, though it occasionally presents itself in young adults in their twenties or early thirties. This form of diabetes is characterized by a lack of insulin production in the body, and it is treated with insulin supplementation.
Type 2 diabetes is more common than Type 1; nearly 90 percent of diabetes patients suffer from it. This kind of diabetes occurs when the body does not produc Continue reading

Regular alcohol consumption could cut diabetes risk, study finds

Regularly drinking a moderate amount of certain alcoholic drinks could reduce a person’s chances of developing diabetes, according to a study.
Consuming alcohol three or four days a week was associated with a reduced risk of developing diabetes – a 27% reduction in men and a 32% reduction in women – compared with abstaining, scientists found.
Wine was considered particularly beneficial, probably because it has chemical compounds that improve blood sugar balance, researchers in Denmark found.
Gin could have the opposite effect, along with other spirits, increasing women’s chances of getting diabetes by 83%.
Experts said the findings, published in the journal Diabetologia, should not be seen as a green light to drink more than existing NHS guidelines suggest.
The authors of the research, led by Prof Janne Tolstrup from the University of Southern Denmark, wrote: “Our findings suggest that alcohol drinking frequency is associated with the risk of diabetes and that consumption of alcohol over three to four weekdays is associated with the lowest risks of diabetes, even after taking average weekly alcohol consumption into account.”
In the past, studies have suggested that light to moderate drinking can reduce the risk of developing diabetes but there has been no research into the frequency of alcohol consumption.
Scientists studied data on 70,551 men and women who took part in a Danish survey. Respondents were quizzed about their drinking habits and monitored for five years.
Afterwards, participants were followed up and 859 men and 887 women had developed diabetes. The Continue reading