Yahoo! Health: Diabetes News

WEDNESDAY,Jan. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Changes in blood glucose levels may helpprevent the onset of type 2 diabetes, Japanese researchers report.

Type2 diabetes often occurs because a person's cells no longer respond tothe hormone insulin, which is crucial for lowering blood glucose(sugar) levels.

Before a person becomes diabetic, his or herbody tries to compensate for the increasing resistance to insulin byupping the amount of insulin secreted and the mass of insulin-secretingcells (beta cells) in the pancreas.

Increasing beta cell masscan potentially be a treatment for type 2 diabetes, experts say. Butexactly what triggers an increase in beta cell mass in people who eat ahigh-fat diet has been unclear.

In a study involving diabeticmice fed high-fat diets, researchers at the University of Tokyoreported that changes in glucose concentration were probably the majortrigger for increased beta cell mass.

Reporting in the January issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation,the team focused on mice with only one copy of a gene called GCK, whichproduces a kind of molecular sensor that gauges blood glucose levels.These mice showed little increase in beta cell mass, compared withnormal mice.

A molecule known as insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS2) was shown to be an important mediator of the beta cell mass increase after GCK first sensed increased blood glucose levels, the researchers said.

Futurestudies are needed to determine the mechanism linking GCK and IRS2. Theresearchers hope that this will lead to new strategies of increasingbeta cell mass as a treatment for type 2 diabetes.

More information

The American Diabetes Association has more about diabetes.