A long-sought target in the treatment of diabetes is coming into focus, as researchers report the discovery of a molecule that inhibits the breakdown of insulin in mice.
The compound, reported today in Nature1, blocks a protein called insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) in mice. “If you inhibit the enzyme that breaks down insulin, insulin levels in your body should be higher and your blood glucose should be lower,” says David Liu, a chemical biologist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And because people with type 2 diabetes tend to have low insulin levels, it could lead to new ways of treating the disease, he says.
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