Potential Type-2 Diabetes Drug Developed
Syracuse University Chemists
A new drug that leads to treating type 2 diabetes in millions of patients who are looking to control their blood sugar better without the common side effects of vomiting, nausea, and undesired weight loss in some cases, has been developed by the chemistry professor, Dr. Robert P. Doyle at Syracuse University.
The scientific journal Cell Reports recently published Doyle’s research article.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists, a common group of drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes work by lowering blood sugar levels in diabetic patients, but gives side effects such as weight loss, vomiting, and nausea.
A novel way to combine two molecules into a new substance that lowers blood sugar without those undesired side effects was found by Doyle and his collaborators, through grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In technical terms, a new area of bioconjugation, a chemical technique used to combine two molecules was developed by Doyle’s team. They produced Cbi-Ex4, a technique they call “corrination”—a play, of course, on “coronation,” by binding together a small piece of the complex vitamin B12 molecule, dicyanocobinamide (Cbi) to exendin-4 (Ex4), an FDA-approved GLP-1R agonist.
Having the ability to
vomit (rodents and many mammals lack that ability), the researchers used the musk shrew (Suncus murinus) mammal in this study. From testing Cbi-Ex4 in this mammal, the data collected revealed a profound reduction in vomiting compared to Ex4 and beneficial effects as evidenced by improved blood sugar levels during glucose tolerance tests. For patients who require glucoregulation without affecting their body mass index (BMI) levels, this could be the ideal new drug as there was no weight loss noted, in stark contrast to the currently approved GLP-1R agonist. Thus, even for diabetes patients who live with cystic fibrosis, HIV, cancer, sarcopenia, or sarcopenia, where weight-loss is counter-indicated, this drug could be beneficial.Moving the drug through the pre-clinical phase into phase I human studies is the next step in the development of this groundbreaking drug. To fund this effort, a new grant proposal to the NIH has been submitted by Doyle and his team.
Additionally, to help military veterans with comorbid diabetes and obesity, Doyle has also been awarded a three-year, $3 million grant through the federal Department of Defense (DoD). Doyle said, “We hope that we would see a significant weight loss method that is better than what is currently available as the grant is specifically aimed at making researchers look at major problems within the veteran community.”
Doyle added, “There’s no treatment out there now that can exclude illness behaviors such as nausea and keep the weight off for a long period of time. Therefore, my group will further expand on GLP-1R agonists to treat diabetes without affecting nutritional status (‘corrination’) and separately to treat diabetes with obesity (DoD project).”
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Potential Type-2 Diabetes Drug Developed
