By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
South Korean scientists have said they have pinpointed a genetic process that is linked to the development of insulin resistance in the human body, a finding that could help design treatments for diabetes.
The study published by peer-review journal, Cell Metabolism, claims that the TORC2 protein, a key regulator of blood glucose levels, is also involved in increasing the liver's output of LIPIN1 proteins, which are associated with insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance prevents the body from processing insulin properly, thus increasing the risks of conditions such as diabetes, as body cells are prevented from processing glucose.
Insulin resistance, which affect the majority of patients with type-2 diabetes, is also linked with high blood pressure, obesity, heart diseases and other metabolic syndromes.
The researchers, led by Sunkyunkwan University's Koo Seung-hoi, said the level of LIPIN1 in the livers of obese mice was up-regulated after the increase of TORC2 activation.
This leads to elevation of diacylglycerol in the liver, which then causes the over-expression of protein kinase C (PKC) epsilon that is involved with insulin resistance.
However, in mice with developed insulin resistance, a regulation of LIPIN1 resulted in the weakening of insulin resistance, which then led to a lowered output of glucose in the liver, thus suggesting a new way to control blood-sugar levels. .
``The research shows that the regulation of TORC2 could improve the conditions of insulin resistance, which also opens new opportunities for a more targeted approach in treatments,'' Koo said.
In other news from the science field, researchers at CbsBioscience said they have identified candidate genes that were found to be linked to the reoccurring of tumors in successfully-treated liver cancer patients.
According to their study, published by peer-review journal, Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research, the expression of NNMT (nicotinamide N-methyltransferase) genes was significantly lower in cancer patients compared to healthy people, based on the testing of the tissues of 120 cancer patients.
The NNMT levels were also closely linked to the rates of disease recurrence and death in cancer patients, the scientists said.