Local researchers are unlocking the secrets to slowing down or even halting the onset of type two diabetes, a condition that impacts around 10 per cent of the Maltese population.
The ongoing research replicates diabetes in a laboratory setting and hinges on medicinal treatment that recently started being tested on patients with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in clinical trials, Neville Vassallo told Times of Malta.
People with diabetes have too much sugar in their blood because their body lacks insulin that is produced by what are known as beta cells, which, under the microscope, look like little islands in the pancreas.
“Diabetes develops when beta cells start being destroyed by the accumulation of a protein called the islet amyloid polypeptide. It has been proven that the accumulation of this ‘rogue protein’ within the islets spells the death of the beta cells,” Vassallo said.
The associate professor at the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry within the university’s Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, is carrying out the research with Adam El Saghir.
Current treatment of diabetes treats the symptoms of the disease by lowering glucose levels. This type of treatment does nothing to stop the growth of these ‘rogue proteins’.
“Our research is innovative as we are looking for treatment that directly attacks these ‘rogue proteins’,” he said.
“We teamed up with German researchers who have developed a range of anti-amyloid compounds – synthetic medicine – to treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.”
The local researchers are replicating the accumulation of the ‘rogue proteins’ in a laboratory, targeting them with the medicine made available by the German researchers and recording the progress.
Left to their own means, the ‘rogue proteins’ keep growing but, once the medicine is introduced, the protein accumulations break down and become smaller.
In a human pancreas, the introduction of this medicine could slow down or halt the onset of type two diabetes.
The results are becoming increasingly interesting as the researchers are not just introducing synthetic medicine.
“We are also looking into compounds extracted from black and green teas, which we found to be very effective in the anti-amyloid treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. We are seeing great potential.”
Vassallo explained that the local research is going beyond finding a treatment to slow down the onset.
“Although scientists have confirmed ‘rogue proteins’ kill the cells that produce insulin, they do not yet understand precisely how the death occurs,” he said.
“The cells that create insulin come equipped with ‘power stations’ that are known as mitochondria. At the University of Malta, we are also trying to establish if these ‘rogue proteins’ kill the beta cells by attacking their energy-generating mitochondria.”
The Max Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, is providing the synthetic ‘anti-amyloid’ medicinal compounds.
The studies are being funded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology through its Research Excellence Programme.