Betatrophin

Potential diabetes breakthrough

Harvard researchers discover hormone that spurs beta cell production

April 26, 2013

Betatrophin causes a specific increase in pancreatic β cell replication. Betatrophin is a secreted protein expressed in liver and fat. The increase in β cell replication and mass improves glycemic control. (Credit: Peng Yi, Ji-Sun Park, Douglas A. Melton/Cell)

Researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute(HSCI) have discovered a hormone that holds promise for a dramatically more effective treatment of type 2 diabetes, a metabolic illness afflicting an estimated 26 million Americans.

The researchers believe that the hormone might also have a role in treating type 1, or juvenile, diabetes.

The work was published by the journal Cell.

The hormone, called betatrophin, causes mice to produce insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells at up to 30 times the normal rate. The new beta cells only produce insulinwhen called for by the body, offering the potential for the natural regulation of insulin and a great reduction in the complications associated with diabetes, the leading medical cause of amputations and non-genetic loss of vision./.../