Imagine a "smart insulin" that acts in accordance to the body's natural highs and lows in blood sugar levels. As a type one diabetic, it would be a dream come true, and it is a dream that has moved one step closer to reality.
A team at the University of Utah have been testing Ins-PBA-F out on a mouse model; he insulin activates when the blood sugar increases, helping to effectively manage the peaks in blood sugars. Each injection will be active for at least 14 hours and it is said to be faster acting than Levimir.
Early trials show that when used in mouse models, the "smart" insulin works just as well as the insulin produced by healthy mice.
Co-first author Danny Chou, Ph.D., USTAR investigator and assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah, said:
"This is an important advance in insulin therapy,"
However, as Chou goes on to explain, it will be sometime before it becomes available for human use:
“Our insulin derivative appears to control blood sugar better than anything that is available to diabetes patients right now.” He will continue evaluating the long-term safety and efficacy of Ins-PBA-F. The insulin derivative could reach Phase 1 human clinical trials in two to five years."
Matthew Weber, Ph.D., co-first author with Chou and Benjamin Tang, Ph.D., who performed the work together while postdoctoral fellows at MIT in collaboration with senior authors and MIT professors Robert Langer, Ph.D., and Daniel Anderson, Ph.D., said:
At present, there is no clinically approved glucose-responsive modified insulin,”
“The development of such an approach could contribute to greater therapeutic autonomy for diabetic patients.”
Source:
Glucose-responsive insulin activity by covalent modification with aliphatic phenylboronic acid conjugates. Danny Hung-Chieh Chou, Matthew J. Webber, Benjamin C. Tang, Amy B. Lin, Lavanya S. Thapa, David Deng, Jonathan V. Truong, Abel B. Cortinas, Robert Langer, and Daniel Anderson. PNAS Early Edition, Feb. 9, 2015
The press release can be viewed here.
A team at the University of Utah have been testing Ins-PBA-F out on a mouse model; he insulin activates when the blood sugar increases, helping to effectively manage the peaks in blood sugars. Each injection will be active for at least 14 hours and it is said to be faster acting than Levimir.
Early trials show that when used in mouse models, the "smart" insulin works just as well as the insulin produced by healthy mice.
Co-first author Danny Chou, Ph.D., USTAR investigator and assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah, said:
"This is an important advance in insulin therapy,"
However, as Chou goes on to explain, it will be sometime before it becomes available for human use:
“Our insulin derivative appears to control blood sugar better than anything that is available to diabetes patients right now.” He will continue evaluating the long-term safety and efficacy of Ins-PBA-F. The insulin derivative could reach Phase 1 human clinical trials in two to five years."
Matthew Weber, Ph.D., co-first author with Chou and Benjamin Tang, Ph.D., who performed the work together while postdoctoral fellows at MIT in collaboration with senior authors and MIT professors Robert Langer, Ph.D., and Daniel Anderson, Ph.D., said:
At present, there is no clinically approved glucose-responsive modified insulin,”
“The development of such an approach could contribute to greater therapeutic autonomy for diabetic patients.”
Source:
Glucose-responsive insulin activity by covalent modification with aliphatic phenylboronic acid conjugates. Danny Hung-Chieh Chou, Matthew J. Webber, Benjamin C. Tang, Amy B. Lin, Lavanya S. Thapa, David Deng, Jonathan V. Truong, Abel B. Cortinas, Robert Langer, and Daniel Anderson. PNAS Early Edition, Feb. 9, 2015
The press release can be viewed here.
