HIGH INSULIN LEVELS TIED TO OBESITY PATHWAY
UT Southwestern
Medical Center researchers have identified a crucial link between high levels
of insulin and pathways that lead to obesity, a finding that may have important
implications when treating diabetes
Researchers with the
UT Southwestern's Touchstone Center for Diabetes found that giving mice high
levels of insulin, which is typically done to counter the effects of diabetes
or insulin resistance in Type 2 diabetes, also fosters processes that lead to obesity.
The discovery was
made by studying mice engineered to lack receptors for a hormone called
glucagon.
Glucagon spurs the
liver's production of glucose into the bloodstream and thus maintains the fuel
supply for the brain. Insulin blocks the secretion of glucagon, opposes
glucagon action on the liver, and instructs the body to take up glucose from
the blood. Type 2 diabetics cannot respond properly to insulin and have
uncontrolled glucagon production, thereby causing their livers to overproduce
glucose, contributing to high blood-sugar levels. Insulin is often given to
people with type 2 diabetes to try to overcome insulin-resistance and lower the
levels of glucose in the bloodstream.
But insulin also
signals the body to produce fat, so when given the high levels of insulin
needed to control excess glucose, mice become fat, explained corresponding
author Dr. Michael Roth, Professor of Biochemistry at UT Southwestern and a
member of the Touchstone Diabetes Center.
"We found that
mice lacking the receptor for glucagon cannot get fat unless they are given the
high levels of insulin found in mice (and humans) that have type 2
diabetes," said Dr. Roth, who holds the Diane and Hal Brierley
Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Research. "This result suggests that the
high levels of insulin found in those who develop insulin resistance and type 2
diabetes are a contributor to obesity and its complications."
Dr. Roth cautioned
that if this response also happens in humans, then treating patients with type
2 diabetes with higher than normal amounts of insulin could contribute to the
development of obesity.
The findings suggest
that physicians may need to reconsider use of intensive insulin therapy to
control hyperglycemia (high blood-sugar levels) in obese, diabetic patients
with hyperinsulinemia (overproduction of insulin). In addition, the findings
suggest that suppressing glucagon action could prevent hyperinsulinemia,
without causing diabetes. The research team found that suppressing glucagon in
obese, insulin-resistant, type 2 diabetic mice reduced blood glucose back to
normal levels.
Glucagon and insulin
normally counteract each other as part of an ongoing effort to stabilize
blood-sugar levels. The glucagon hormone is produced and released by the
pancreas in response to low concentrations of insulin and, conversely, glucagon
release is suppressed by high levels of insulin in the bloodstream. The balance
between the two hormones is disrupted in type 2 diabetics by the insulin that
is given to control high glucose levels. This excess insulin, in turn, causes
the body to produce excess fat. The new findings lead the authors to suggest
that the high insulin levels actually aggravate diabetes. The optimal therapy,
they propose, should be diet restriction and reducing glucagon levels.
According to
estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO), 347 million people worldwide
have diabetes, 90 percent of whom are affected by type 2 diabetes. Although
previously only seen in adults, type 2 diabetes is now occurring in children,
and can include complications such as an increased risk of heart disease and
stroke, nerve damage, and eye disease.
The work, published
in the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences,builds upon original research by Nobel
laureates and Regental Professors Dr. Michael Brown, Director of the Jonsson
Center for Molecular Genetics, and Dr. Joseph Goldstein, Chairman of Molecular
Genetics, who showed that insulin increases lipogenesis, the production of fat,
and demonstrated the role of insulin in the activity of SREBP family of
transcription factors. Dr. Goldstein holds the Julie and Louis A. Beecherl, Jr.
Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Research and the Paul J. Thomas Chair in
Medicine. Dr. Brown holds the W. A. (Monty) Moncrief Distinguished Chair in
Cholesterol and Arteriosclerosis Research and the Paul J. Thomas Chair in
Medicine.
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