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Diabetes mellitus provokes an iron-transferring protein
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Scientists and physicians for many years tried to find out the causes of the development of diabetes. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen found that the increased activity of a particular protein that transports iron in the body leads to the destruction of beta cells that produce insulin.
The results of this study were recently published in the journal "Cell Metabolism".
Almost 300 thousand Danes suffer from diabetes mellitus. 80 percent of them have type 2 diabetes, which is called a lifestyle disease. The number of people with diabetes is doubling every decade. Treatment of this disease costs the Danes 86 million Danish daily (one Danish krone approximately equal to 1.4 hryvnia).
Diabetes develops when the beta cells of the pancreas do not produce enough insulin to meet the body's needs. According to the results of the last study, a violation of this function of beta cells is caused by one particular protein transporting iron.
"Iron is an extremely important mineral for the healthy life of the body, it is part of many enzymes and proteins, for example, it can be found in the red pigment of blood that carries oxygen, but at the same time, iron can contribute to the creation of toxic oxygen radicals. The iron content in the cells can lead to tissue damage and disease.We have found that the increased activity of a particular iron carrier damages the beta cells.When we completely removed this iron carrier from the beta cell to the genetically modified mice, they became immune to diabetes, "explained Thomas Mandrup-Poulsen, professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Department of Health and Medical Sciences of the University of Copenhagen.
Together with Professor Christina Ellervik and Henrik Birgens, Mandrup-Poulsen, earlier on the basis of large-scale experimental studies, found a link between the elevated iron content in the body and the risk of diabetes mellitus. Now the team of Danish scientists was the first in the world to discover the relationship between diabetes and the carrier of iron in the body, which is most likely the primary cause of the increased risk of the disease.
"We need to conduct clinical studies that would confirm that changing the iron content in the body can reduce the risk of diabetes, only then we can advise people who are at risk not to take iron-containing drugs and recommend treatment directed at reduction in the amount of iron in the body, "- said Thomas Mandrup-Poulsen.
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