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A drug generally used in treating opioid addiction has the potential to be used in administration of type 2 diabetes, in keeping with a brand new examine by a workforce of researchers from IIT-Mandi, CSIR-IITR Lucknow and SRM University.
The drug referred to as low-dose naltrexone (LDN) can activate a sure protein molecule within the physique which in the end helps in decreasing insulin resistance, in keeping with the examine printed within the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Insulin resistance happens when cells within the physique lose their capacity to make use of insulin – a hormone which helps the cells to soak up glucose from the blood (ie blood sugar derived from the meals). If not reversed, insulin resistance can result in type 2 diabetes.
Insulin resistance is linked to a different situation referred to as hyperinsulinemia in which there’s extra insulin circulating within the bloodstream, and each these situations reinforce one another.
The researchers declare to have solved the thriller of how this extra insulin, or hyperinsulinemia, will increase insulin resistance. They recognized a protein referred to as SIRT1 which will get repressed in hyperinsulinemia. A lower in SIRT1 prompts one other protein referred to as NF-κB which instigates irritation within the physique and thus, causes insulin resistance.
On the opposite hand, the researchers discovered that the drug LDN prompts the SIRT1 protein, and thus, helps in rising the insulin sensitivity of cells.
“Based on these findings, we propose that LDN, an FDA- approved non-peptide opioid antagonist, may be used as an anti-inflammatory drug in the treatment for insulin resistance,” the examine mentioned.
“Naltrexone at low doses could potentially restore some of the diabetes-associated events in cellular and animal models,” mentioned Dr Prosenjit Mondal from IIT-Mandi’s School of Basic Sciences, the corresponding creator of the examine.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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