Betatrophin could Help Manage Diabetes Better; Harvard Study Finds

Researchers have now discovered a hormone called betatrophin that can be a better treatment option for people suffering from diabetes type 2 and children who have diabetes type 1.

The hormone was discovered by researchers from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI). Betatrophin was found to help mice produce insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells at up to 30 times faster than the normal cells.

In the U.S., the number of people being diagnosed with diabetes has tripled from 5.6 million in 1980 to 26.9 million in 2010. According to CDC, by 2050, 1 in 3 U.S. adults will have diabetes. The condition is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure and limb amputations not caused by an accident.

Type 1 diabetes is when the body isn't able to produce insulin and requires a daily dose of insulin. The cause of this diabetes isn't known and it is not preventable. Type 2 diabetes is when there is insulin production, but the body can't use it. Some people are predisposed to this diabetes, but it is preventable or at least delayed by proper food and physical activity. The United States spends about $218 billion annually to treat complications related to diabetes.

The new beta cells secrete insulin only when the body requires it, making it an ideal choice for regulating the levels of the hormone in the body.

"If this could be used in people it could eventually mean that instead of taking insulin injections three times a day, you might take an injection of this hormone once a week or once a month, or in the best case maybe even once a year," said Doug Melton, one of the researchers who discovered the hormone.

Researchers said that the treatment still requires lot of studies before it can be used to treat people with the condition.

Melton said that that the hormone is best suited for treating diabetes type 2, but can also be used in diabetes type 1 by increasing the number of beta cells and slowing down the disease after primary diagnosis.

"Our idea here is relatively simple," Melton said in Harvard Gazette. "We would provide this hormone, the type 2 diabetic will make more of their own insulin-producing cells, and this will slow down, if not stop, the progression of their diabetes. I've never seen any treatment that causes such an enormous leap in beta cell replication."

The compound has been licensed to Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson company that is working to get the hormone to clinical trials. The researchers had a prior collaboration with Evotec, a German biotech firm. The National Institute for Health has funded 80 percent of the current study.