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Bad ecology can provoke diabetes
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Scientists said that epigenetics and ecology can provoke the development of type 1 diabetes. According to experts, the new data will help explain why in recent years, the number of patients with diabetes has increased dramatically.
About a tenth of all patients with diabetes mellitus are carriers of the rarest type of disease (the first). In this case, the disease does not arise as a result of metabolic disorders, but because of the destruction of pancreatic cells that produce insulin. With type 1 diabetes mellitus, the pancreas cells begin to attack their own human immunity and according to WHO, every year in the world of this type of diabetes, more than 100,000 people die.
In the world of this type of diabetes affects about 30 million people and now the disease is becoming more common and scientists do not know how to stop the disease. Patients with type 1 require systematic injections of insulin.
Specialists from the University of Cambridge found that in recent years, the number of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus has sharply increased and scientists believe that the development of the disease is associated not only with heredity. According to biologists, ecology can be one of the factors that provoke the disease. The ecological situation in the region can be reflected on the protein coat of genes.
Specialists examined identical twins, one of whom was a carrier of type 1 diabetes. The DNA of the changes did not reveal the scientists, but the disturbances in the protein membrane were present, because of which the activity of many genes changed. The researchers noted that such activity often causes the development of cancer.
It has always been considered that type 1 diabetes is a hereditary disease, but in highly polluted areas there are high incidence rates of insulin-dependent diabetes. Until now, scientists can not figure out why the immune system begins to attack pancreatic cells and what mechanism changes the shell of DNA in diabetes, but some success in finding drugs has been achieved. At Melbourne University, a team of scientists studied the venom of a sea snail and found out that the insulin obtained from it can regulate blood glucose levels while scientists conducted research on fish, but it is possible that people will have the same mechanism. Insulin from the venom of the sea snail has an unusual three-dimensional structure and experts are sure that on its basis it will be possible to develop an artificial version of the hormone of the pancreas, suitable for humans. Unlike the current insulin, artificial insulin will work immediately after administration (modern drugs take 15-20 minutes). Scientists believe that insulin from the venom of the sea snail is suitable for both types 1 and 2 diabetics, and pregnant women with gestational diabetes.
Scientists are planning to continue studying the venom of the sea snail, as they are confident that this will significantly advance the search for new drugs and methods for treating diabetes.
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