Protein Levels Could Signal That Child Will Develop Diabetes

Featured In: Disease Research | Academia News

Monday, April 25, 2024

Get daily Bioscience Technology industry top stories and headlines - Sign up now!

newsvine diigo google
slashdot
Share
Loading...

Decreasing blood levels of a protein that helps control inflammation may be a red flag that could help children avoid type 1 diabetes, researchers say. Georgia Health Sciences University researchers are looking at blood levels of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, or IL-1ra, in children being closely followed because their genes put them at risk for type 1 diabetes. They also are looking at diabetic mice missing IL-1ra to see how the protein deficiency affects immune function and destruction of insulin-producing islet beta cells.

“We want to know if we can use IL-1ra levels to identify children who will soon develop the disease, then use IL-1 inhibitors to prevent it,” said Dr. Sharad Purohit, biochemist in the GHSU Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine.

IL-1ra helps reduce inflammation and Purohit’s preliminary evidence suggests that low levels predict inflammation is increasing and the immune system is going to attack insulin-producing cells. A three-year, $500,000 grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation will help him explore the hypothesis in the blood of about 2,500 children as well as the diabetic mice.

Il-1 inhibitors already are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, where inflammation destroys joints. Clinical trials are underway in type 1 diabetes and to see if an inhibitor can halt the islet cell destruction that occurs in type 1 diabetes as well.

While acknowledging the inhibitor may improve type 1diabetes outcome, GHSU scientists want to know if it can also be used preventively, said Dr. Jin-Xiong She, Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine.

IL-1ra competes with its counterpart IL-1beta for the IL-1 receptor. In type 1 diabetes, inflammation-promoting IL-1beta appears to be winning. “It’s a balance; it’s a competition,” She said. “There is always a balance between beta cell production and destruction and any process that can change the balance can push you to disease or help you recover from it. In this case, we believe that knowing the balance is off can actually help prevent disease.”

Type 1 diabetes typically presents by puberty, as the body’s immune system inexplicably turns against the pancreas’ insulin-producing cells. By the time the first symptoms occur, such as increased appetite in the face of significant weight loss, as many as 90 percent of the beta cells may be destroyed, leaving a child facing a lifetime of insulin dependency and often complications such as cardiovascular damage and vision loss. Much like the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes, the incidence of type 1 is increasing.

The recent Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation award is Purohit’s fourth. He received postdoctoral and senior postdoctoral fellowship awards as well as a transition award when he moved to faculty status in 2009. “This really shows he is on the right track to be a successful investigator,” She said.

Purohit has worked for more than a decade with She, a principal investigator on international studies screening thousands of newborns for high-risk genes then following them for years to help determine how genetics and environment converge to cause type 1 diabetes. She, a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Genomic Medicine, also is helping identify high-risk genes.

Source: Georgia Health Sciences University

Join the Discussion
Rate Article: Average 0 out of 5
register or log in to comment on this article!

0 Comments

Add Comment

Text Only 2000 character limit

Page 1 of 1

Research Exchange

Bringing the Cell Image into Focus

Nov 2 2010

Improvements in transmission electron microscope (TEM) technology increase the power of this imaging tool for the study of cell biology.

Finding a Cure for Spinal Cord Injury with On-Demand LIMS

Oct 25 2010

The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis finds an on-demand laboratory information management system (LIMS) helps to accelerate discovery in its HCS projects.

Saving Cells: Image Processing for Improved Viability, Part II: Iterative Deconvolution

Oct 25 2010

3D light microscopy and deconvolution provide a means to investigate 3D structure, providing near-confocal quality images without the temporal requirements or potentially damaging phototoxicity associated with other 3D imaging technologies. This article is Part II in a series regarding viability, resolution improvement, and measurement in fluorescence imaging. Part I focused on spectral unmixing.

Saving Cells: Image Processing for Improved Viability

Sep 22 2010

This article is Part I of a two-part series regarding viability, resolution improvement, and measurement in fluorescence imaging. Part II will focus on deconvolution.

Evaluation of a New Nano-Type UV-Vis Spectrophotometer

Mar 3

Analysis of one- to four-microliter size samples for nucleic acids has become routine in many life science laboratories. However, until now, available instruments require considerable manipulation of the instrument and sample; some require manually recording the data. The user must typically lower and raise the arm manually, then wipe the sample manually from the target after each analysis. And fiberoptics used in some of these instruments are subject to deterioration.

Production of Recombinant Proteins and Monoclonal Antibodies in Hollow Fiber Bioreactors

Jan 25

While well-understood, robust and convenient, classical batch-style 2-D culture on non-porous supports or 3-D suspension culture in other devices are really not very biologically relevant models. Cell culture conditions can affect the quality of the antibody or protein produced.

Selecting Robots for Use in Drug Discovery and Testing

Dec 6 2010

Drug discovery and testing, with their need for speed, repeatability and verification, are ideally suited to benefit from robot automation. It is therefore not surprising that robots have been at the forefront of automation developments in both these areas.

HP Scalable Network Storage Systems for Life Sciences

Sep 13 2010

Life sciences research today is advancing exponentially, each step bringing us closer to the realization of truly personalized medicine–preventive care and treatments designed specifically for each individual. In the near future, PCPGM healthcare researchers expect to be able to use predictive genetic testing to create custom treatment plans for individuals and deliver dramatic improvements over today’s one-size-fits-all approach. But research capabilities are only part of the equation; current storage and operating capacities must also evolve to accommodate ever-expanding amounts of data before the goal of personalized medicine can be realized.

Using the Tecan Genesis Workstation to Automate a Cytometric Bead Array (CBA) Immunoassay

Mar 11 2010

The poster describe the process involved in automating a Cytometric Bead Array (CBA) immunoassay developed to measure relative concentrations of serum antibodies against Tetanus (TT), Sperm Whale Myoglobin (SWM) and Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin (KLH) in KLH-immunized volunteers.

Ensuring Quality in Assays Performed with Automated Liquid Handlers

Feb 2 2010

The focus of this presentation is to highlight the need of ensuring quality in important assays performed with automated liquid handlers. Nearly all assays performed within a laboratory are volume-dependent. In turn, all concentrations of biological and chemical components in these assays, as well as the associated dilution protocols, are volume-dependent. Because analyte concentration is volume-dependent, an assay’s results might be falsely interpreted if liquid handler variability and inaccuracies are unknown or if the system(s) go unchecked for a long period.

Inkjet System for Protein Crystallography

Feb 1 2010

X-ray crystallography is used routinely by scientists to obtain the three dimensional structure of a biological molecule of interest.Such information can be used to determine how a pharmaceutical interacts with a protein target and what changes might improve functionality. However, the crystallization of macromolecules still remains a serious hindrance in structural determination despite impressive advances in screening methods and technologies.

Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity in a Drosophila Memory Mutant

Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity in a Drosophila Memory Mutant

Nov 9 2009

Action selection is modulated by external stimuli either directly or via memory retrieval. In a constantly changing environment, animals have evolved attention-like processes to effectively filter the incoming sensory stream. These attention-like processes, in turn, are modulated by memory. The neurobiological nature of how attention, action selection and memory are inter-connected is unknown. We describe here new phenotypes of the memory mutant radish in the fruit fly Drosophila.

Notice of retraction.

2 hours ago

Nest membership determines the levels of aggression and cooperation between females of a supposedly communal digger wasp

7 hours ago

This study examines the precursors of violent behavior among urban, racial/ethnic minority adults. Data are from an on-going study of male and female African Americans and Puerto Ricans, interviewed at four time waves, Time 1-Time 4 (T1-T4), from adolescence to...

Prokariotic Cell Collection in Denmark

Nov 6 2009

I would like to know about a prokariotic cell collection in Denmark. Is there a cell bank in this country? I need a Lactobacillus strain for a fermentation assay and this information about the bank is very helpful for me.

Request for Entries

Oct 16 2009

Ask the Experts is your chance to get the answers to questions on applications, materials, methods, processes, and technologies. Email you question to bst_web@advantagemedia.com, and the editors of Bioscience Technology will find an appropriate expert to answer it. Watch this space in the future to see the questions your colleagues are posting.

STAY INFORMED: SUBSCRIBE TO

Magazine and E-mail Newsletters

Loading...
E-mail:   

MULTIMEDIA

Video:

Viewing SureFocus Slides

Jun 11 2010

A demonstration of SureFocus Microscope Slides in the review of AFB Smears. SureFocus Slides are a patent-pending breakthrough in tuberculosis detection, as their fluorescent staining circle remains visible during review, Fluorescence Microscopy.

Podcasts:

Allen Institute for Brain Research

Allen Institute for Brain Research

Oct 14 2009

Discussed in this interview are both the mouse brain project and the human cortex project with an emphasis on the importance of these projects to neuroscience research.

Top Stories and Headlines
EVERY DAY!

FREE Email Newsletter

Information: