A team of American scientists has made significant progress in reversing diabetes through the development of a new drug that enhances insulin-producing cells by 700%. During the study, researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and the non-profit clinical research center City of Hope tested the drug on diabetic mice, showing a remarkable increase in insulin-producing cells by 700% over just three months, effectively reversing the disease.
Katherine Charneski, the lead author of the study, explained that beta cells in the pancreas play a crucial role in producing insulin in response to blood sugar levels, but the hallmark of diabetes is that these cells are either destroyed or unable to produce enough insulin. Currently, there are no approved treatments that increase the number of beta cells. However, in this new development, scientists have found new hope through a treatment that combines two drugs: one is harmine, a natural molecule found in some plants, which inhibits an enzyme called DYRK1A present in beta cells; the second is a GLP1 receptor agonist, a class of diabetes drugs that includes Ozempic, which has recently garnered attention due to its side effects related to weight loss.
They discovered that this therapeutic combination in vivo significantly boosted the mass of human beta cells implanted in mice with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The insulin-producing cells grew within just three months. The recovery state was maintained even after treatment cessation. Charneski stated, "Three months of combination therapy restored glucose balance in a streptozotocin-induced diabetes model, with effects lasting at least a month after therapy withdrawal."
Dr. Adolfo Garcia-Ocana, co-author of the study, told New Atlas that this is the first time scientists have developed a drug treatment shown to increase human beta cell numbers in vivo. This research brings hope for future regenerative therapies to treat hundreds of millions of diabetes patients. The study demonstrated that the observed effects were due to changes in beta cell proliferation, function, and longevity. While the results may be promising, further research is needed to confirm the drug's effectiveness in humans suffering from this chronic disease.
