"Targeting a Transcriptional Pathway to Improve Fat Cell Health and Treat Diabetes"
Year: 2019
Institution: Weill Cornell Medical College
Principal Investigator: Dr. James Lo
Research Category: Basic Science
Diabetes has risen rapidly in the USA and worldwide with major negative impacts on cancer, heart and kidney disease. Insulin is produced by the pancreatic beta cell. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreatic beta cell does not make enough insulin and the insulin that is made is less effective. We recently made the discovery that fat cells secrete a protein called adipsin that can make beta cells healthier in diabetes. However, in type 2 diabetes fat cells become unhealthy and do not make enough adipsin. It is unknown why certain individuals have high or low levels of adipsin. The goal of our project is to identify ways to make fat cells healthy as a new treatment for diabetes.
The above project description has been supplied by the Principal Investigator