Scientists from the Pablo de Olavide University, led by the researcher of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemical Engineering Marta Artal Sanz, have initiated a research project focused on the identification of molecular targets to combat the sterility associated with diabetes.
It is a study that starts from the results obtained from the project funded by the H2020 ERC-Starting Grant program, called mitochondrial signalling crosstalk in the regulation of ageing (mitosigage), whose research tries to understand the aging process focusing on the signage of the signage of theIgF-1 insulin growth factor (IIS) and its interaction with mitochondrial metabolism.
The western world faces a problem of aging of the population.“In Spain, the so -called population pyramid seems more a Christmas fir than a pyramid.On the one hand, the elderly resist dying and abandoning it, and at the other end it is being stunted with a huge reduction of births, ”says researcher Marta Artal, who says that“ this population change will have consequences in the mannerthat we understand our society. ”
"The elderly resist dying, while there is a huge reduction of births. This change will have an impact on the way we understand society"
Among the causes of the decrease in the birth rate, the tendency to a late motherhood in modern societies, but also to fertility problems that are often detected late in the life of a woman, such as infertility associated with diabetes and diabetes andThe syndrome associated with this disease, known as "polycystic ovary syndrome" (SOP)."SOP is the main cause of ovulatory infertility, being the most frequent endocrine and metabolic disorder that affects women of reproductive age," explains Manuel Muñoz Ruiz, a researcher of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemical Engineering of the UPO, which also participates inThis project.
The scope of research
This research has among its objectives to evolutionarily preserved molecular targets that, when inactive, suppress the sterility associated with a defective IIS in a model animal for infertility.In addition, researchers intend to identify existing drugs for identified targets and determine which compounds or combination of compounds have the best therapeutic potential.
With this study, it is intended to protect the compounds for this new application and take the initial steps towards the valorization of the identified products and their commercial potential, as well as carry out market studies to evaluate the commercial potential of this technology.
With these steps, we want to direct a project originally designed to know biological processes without pretensions applied towards a therapeutic development for a disease that affects many women of reproductive age.
"If this study is successful, it will provide important social and economic benefits in our society by helping people who need it and alleviate the growing aging of today's society," concludes researcher Marta Artal.