Insulin

A team of scientists in the US investigating the relationship between metabolic syndrome and a key hormone have demonstrated how a promising new drug could play an important preventative role in a variety of conditions, including obesity and diabetes.

A peptide called MOTS-c shows promise in preventing type 1 diabetes, in new tests in human cells in culture and live mice. The peptide regulates the immune system, potentially leading to treatments for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.

An artificial pancreas has been trialed in patients with type 2 diabetes for the first time. The device monitors a person’s blood glucose levels and automatically administers insulin when needed – and the results so far are promising.

A team at Indiana University School of Medicine has taken a promising step towards a future of self-adjusting insulin, demonstrating a type of "synthetic hinge" that swings into action when blood glucose levels call for corrective action.

Researchers believe they have found evidence indicating excess production of a neurotransmitter in the liver could be a causal factor in the onset of insulin resistance. The discovery points to preventative treatments for type 2 diabetes.

Researchers have found a way to maintain insulin levels in diabetic mice by growing and implanting new beta cells that produce the hormone. These cells are housed inside a tiny device that protects them from the immune system, like a shark cage.

Results from a trial testing a type 1 diabetes vaccine have found the treatment effective in patients with a specific genetic variant. If validated in larger trials the treatment could be helpful in around 50 percent of patients with type 1 diabetes.

For millions of patients with diabetes, daily insulin injections are a necessary nuisance. A once-a-week shot might be more palatable, and new results from phase 2 clinical trials suggest just such a drug is safe and effective.

An oral pill would be much easier for diabetics than daily insulin injections. An experimental new method for packing insulin into capsules helps it survive the trip through the stomach to the bloodstream, and releases its payload only when needed.

Even though at-home use of an inhaler or insulin pen can be extremely important, doctors have to pretty much just hope that patients are doing it right. A new system, however, could objectively assess patients' technique within their homes.

Scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern have demonstrated how restoring a delicate balance of cells in the pancreas can cure diabetes in mouse models, by essentially converting one type of cell into the other.

A new systematic review and meta-analysis published in the British Medical Journal has concluded adhering to a low-carbohydrate diet for six months is the most effective dietary strategy to put type type 2 diabetes into remission.