The Medical Research Council (MRC) has awarded £1.2m for research at the University of Bristol to further establish how insulin works and so pave the way for the development of new treatments for diabetes.
Around 1.4 million people in the UK have diagnosed diabetes. At least a million more are thought to have diabetes but do not know it yet. The number of people with diabetes is escalating both in the UK and worldwide.
Insulin stimulates the uptake of glucose from the blood into muscle and fat tissue. In diabetes this system goes awry.
A complete molecular explanation of the way insulin stimulates the removal of glucose from the blood is absolutely crucial to the development of future potential treatments for both types of diabetes.
The research team, led by Professor Jeremy Tavaré at the University of Bristol, will focus their work on an enzyme called protein kinase B (PKB). Scientists know the enzyme is involved in how insulin stimulates the removal of glucose from the blood, but do not understand exactly how it does this and so how it might be affected in diabetes.
In type I diabetes, insulin is not produced due to the destruction of cells which are responsible for insulin production. In type II diabetes, insulin production is often normal or elevated but the target tissues for insulin do not respond effectively and so glucose is inefficiently removed from the blood.
Professor Tavaré said: "Diabetes represents an enormous health problem that is set to increase substantially over the next decade.
"While improved patient education and management will play an important role in the future treatment of diabetes, medication will remain a crucial treatment option.
"Once we know how insulin works under normal circumstances, we will then have exciting new routes towards the development of new treatments for diabetes."
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a national organisation funded by the UK tax-payer. Its business is medical research aimed at improving human health; everyone stands to benefit from the outputs. The research it supports and the scientists it trains meet the needs of the health services, the pharmaceutical and other health-related industries and the academic world. MRC has funded work which has led to some of the most significant discoveries and achievements in medicine in the UK.
About half of the MRC's expenditure of over £412 million is invested in its 40 plus Institutes, Units and Centres, where it employs its own research staff. The remaining half goes in the form of grant support and training awards to individuals and teams in universities and medical schools.