Diabetes discovery could open treatment pathways

Diabetes experts have identified a new protein that could be involved in the development of type 2 diabetes . This finding could lead to new drugs designed to fight diabetes . Inhibiting the protein pathway could also work to block pain associated with gout.
The study, published online in Nature Immunology, concerned inflammasomes, clusters of proteins that stimulate inflammation.
Jurg Tschopp, senior author, reportedly commented: “The inflammasome sense situations that are dangerous to our body. This includes pathogens (bacteria, viruses), but also endogenous ‘danger situations,’ such as uric acid crystals found in gout, high circulating glucose found in diabetes or beta-amyloid [plaques] found in Alzheimer’s disease.”