Protein Plaques and Type 2 Diabetes

Filed in archive Research on September 13, 2007

If there is the beta-amyloid protein plaque that causes Alzheimer's disease, there is also a protein plaque implicated in type 2 diabetes: an abnormal, misfolded protein called islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) - which damage and destroy insulin-producing "islet" cells in the pancreas, thereby leading to type 2 diabetes.

The good news however, in the identification of IAPP is the discovery of the potent new compound that reduces the formation of such plaques.

In the new study, Daniel Raleigh, Andisheh Abedini and Fangli Meng found that changing a single amino acid in human IAPP's structure transformed it from one of the most potent amyloid-forming substances into a powerful inhibitor of amyloid formation.

In laboratory studies, they showed that the mutant IAPP significantly reduced the amount of amyloid formed.

Such findings not only will lead to the development of better IAPP inhibitors in type-2 diabetes but also hold promise for the better understanding and development of treatment of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other similar conditions.

Source: Science Daily

[Photo Credit: Medline Plus]