INS-PBA-F.It looks like a series of acronyms or an access password to email, but it is much more.We talk about one of the last steps towards greater comfort in those patients suffering from type 1 diabetes. This 'intelligent' insulin created by researchers from the University of Utah (USA), whose duration per dose exceeds 14 hours and has obtained resultsPositive when trying in mice, it has the peculiarity of self -acting when blood sugar rises.
If the usefulness of this creation is definitively confirmed, two of the main problems of patients with this variant of the disease would be put up: the constant monitoring of the amount of blood sugar and knowing when and how much insulin should be injected.
Human tests will not begin up to two years
INS-PBA-F acts faster and better in the reduction of blood sugar than the prolonged action insulin, marketed as' Levimir ', according to the results of the study, which are published in the early edition of' Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences' (PNAS).In fact, speed and kinetics to reach safe levels of blood glucose are identical in diabetic mouse models treated with ins-pba-f and in healthy mice whose blood sugar is regulated by its own insulin.
"This is an important advance in insulin therapy," said one of the authors of the project and researcher and assistant biochemistry at the University of Utah, Danny Chou."Our insulin derivative seems to control blood sugar better than anything available for diabetes patients at this time," added the expert, who will continue to evaluate long-term safety and the effectiveness of INS-PBA-Fb.The insulin derivative could reach phase 1 of clinical tests in humans in a period of between two and five years.
The main symptom of diabetes is the inappropriate control of blood sugar, a deficit that is more pronounced in type 1 diabetes, which develops when beta cells of insulin of the pancreas are destroyed.Without insulin, there is no way to transport sugar out of blood and cells, where it is used to obtain energy.DM1 patients depend on daily insulin injections to survive.
Despite the advances in the treatment of diabetes, such as insulin pumps and the development of four types of insulin, patients must still manually adjust the amount of insulin administered.The blood glucose levels vary greatly depending on a series of factors such as what is eaten and if exercised.
A glucose -sensitive insulin that is automatically activated when blood sugar levels are high would eliminate the need for additional insulin reinforcements and reduce the dangers associated with an incorrect dosage.