Diabetes News October 1st 2010

Type 1 Diabetes
Health charity Diabetes UK and the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government have announced joint funding of over £675,000 to establish a major resource in Scotland for research into Type 1 diabetes (Scottish Government)

Discovery of 13 validated diabetes biomarkers to be commercialised
After three years of collaborative research involving patients from The Busselton Health Study, drug discovery company Proteomics International announced the identification and analytical validation of 13 protein biomarkers for a significant complication of diabetes – diabetic nephropathy (Proteomics International)

Urinary Collagen Fragments Are Significantly Altered in Diabetes: A Link to Pathophysiology
These findings, based on the largest proteomic study performed to date on subjects with DM, validate the previously described biomarkers for DM, and pinpoint differences in the urinary proteome of T1D and T2D, indicating significant differences in extracellular matrix remodeling (PLoS)

Oxidative stress and autonomic nerve function in early type 1 diabetes.
Oxidative stress and excessive serum NOx are associated with sympathetic dysfunction in early type 1 diabetes (PubMed)

Endothelial abnormalities in adolescents with type 1 diabetes: a biomarker for vascular sequelae?
CD34+CD133+CD31+ cells are potential biomarkers to guide therapeutic interventions to enhance endothelial function and to prevent progression to overt vascular disease (PubMed)

Enterovirus Infection and Progression from Islet Autoimmunity to Type 1 Diabetes: The Diabetes and Autoimmunity Study in the Young (DAISY)
This novel observation suggests that progression from islet autoimmunity to type 1 diabetes may increase after an enterovirus infection characterized by the presence of viral RNA in blood (Diabetes)

Vibration Perception Threshold as a Measure of Distal Symmetrical Peripheral Neuropathy in Type 1 Diabetes
VPT was a sensitive measure of peripheral neuropathy. Future studies may choose to select VPT cutpoints for defining abnormality based on the population studied and clinical outcome of interest (Diabetes Care)

Dose-dependent delay of the hypoglycemic effect of short-acting insulin analogues in obese subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic study
Absorption and hypoglycemic action of increasing dosages of lispro are critically delayed in obese subjects with type 2 diabetes (Diabetes Care)

Secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) in type 2 diabetes: what is up, what is down?
Our analysis does not support the contention of a generalised defect in nutrient-related GLP-1 secretory responses in type 2 diabetes patients. Rather, factors are identified that may determine individual incretin secretory responses and explain some of the variations in published findings of group differences in GLP-1 responses to nutrient intake (Diabetologia)

Sanofi’s Diabetes Drug Shows Promise
Lixisenatide is a so-called GLP-1 drug which could eventually join similar drugs from rivals such as Eli Lilly and Amylin’s Byetta and Novo Nordisk’s Liraglutide (Wall Street Journal)