The article: “Major Step in Preventing Type 2 Diabetes” written by Haley Bridger, Broad Institute Communications, on March 2, 2014 talks about a huge breakthrough in preventing type 2 diabetes. Researchers at the Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital basically found mutations in a gene that is believed to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in people including people with risk factors such as obesity and old age.
(http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/ss/slideshow-type-2-diabetes-overview):
They basically discovered that rare mutations of the gene “SLC30A8” can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by 65%. This drug was tested on people of different ethnic groups, and the drug worked, proving that it may work on people world-wide.
What makes the mutation of this gene so important in fighting type 2 diabetes? Well, the protein that is encoded by “SLC30A8” is shown to play an important role in insulin-secreting in the pancreas, and also somewhat influence the risk of type 2 diabetes. If this protein is activated, it may just be the best possible way to reduce risk. The research group found that the mutation terminates the function of the gene “SLC30A8”. This mutation affects the function of the protein ZnT8 which transports zinc into insulin producing beta cells. Zinc is very important in the steps of creating insulin. Researchers, currently, are looking into why this can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
This is a huge breakthrough and, in my opinion, a very important one. Type 2 diabetes effects the lives of more than 300 million people world-wide. While you can change your lifestyle habits by what you eat, exercising and taking medicine, there is no real cure. I think that it’s great that they are conducting research on something that can really reduce your chances of getting type 2 diabetes. If type 2 diabetes isn't managed correctly, it can be fatal. It’s so common that I almost truly believe that we should really thrive to find a definite cure for it.
I chose type 2 diabetes for my blog because it has a lot to do with what we were recently learning about in class. We basically learned that you have insulin receptors on your cells which receive insulin. This then allows the receptors to send a signal to GluT transporters, telling them to open. With type 2, this whole communication system is fried so when the receptors receive insulin, they don’t send signals and the GluT transporters remain closed. We didn't spend a lot of time on type 2 diabetes so I was still curious on why it’s so hard to find a common cure, and I also wanted to learn more about it. This article was very interesting to me because there at a breakthrough in finding a cure for type 2. I’m curious to see what will come of this breakthrough in the future. Will it be confirmed as a solution for greatly lowering your risk of type 2 or not?
Post by Connor Mulligan
I loved this post. My grandpa has diabetes so this really caught my eye. I loved the diagram and I really like how you added your own opinion through out the post. I was very well informed and it was pretty easy to read. It is amazing that soon there may be something to cure or lower the risk of type II diabetes. Keep bloggin'.
ReplyDeleteWow, interesting topic Connor. This is definitely a major break through by some of the top professionals in the medical industry right here in Massachusetts. Your article connects well to what we learned in Bio about how Type 2 diabetes occurs/is diagnosed. It also connects well with Decisions/P.E. class and the health unit we just finished up. I am not sure if Type 2 should be capitalized but overall great job!
ReplyDeleteNice job on your post Connor. I think Type II Diabetes is a very good topic to blog about because it not only plagues the United States, but many other countries around the world. I do agree with you that a cure should be found for Type II Diabetes, but I think the better choice would be advertising healthy lifestyles and not becoming 400 pounds. I mean obviously for the elderly it is out of their control if they get Type II from old age and things just start to break down. But personally I think the most effective way to deal with Type II would be keeping people healthy in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting blog post, Connor. I was very intrigued by this and I agree with you when you said you wanted to know a little more about diabetes immunity. This discovery does sound like a breakthrough but I am also worried about what will happen. I wanted to know what the effects of the drug would have if it does in fact affect the production of insulin. I was also worried that people might take this for granted if it does work and they would believe they can't develop type 2 diabetes even though the drug would just reduce the chances of getting it. This was a very good blog post, job well done Connor.
ReplyDeleteVery nice blog Connor, I know a lot of people who have diabetes and its a very serious disease. I learned a lot from your blog post. I also think the discovery of the mutation is a huge break through in the field of science and it can save a lot of people's lives. Overall, great blog post.
ReplyDeleteNice job! Like you said, diabetes is a serious and fatal disease, so its great to see work being done to reduce the risk of getting it. Maybe this breakthrough would even lead to more, like a way to cure those already infected, or even a way to prevent the disease entirely. I also agree that we should still be encouraging people to stay healthy as a way of preventing this disease.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Connor! I agree with you that this is a great breakthrough in the medical world because so many people have type 2 diabetes. I think that this definitely connects to class because we have talked briefly about type 2 diabetes, but it also connects because we have started to talk about gene mutations. I think it is very interesting to see how the diseases with protein receptors that we talked about in the blood typing unit, are actually caused by DNA mutations that we are learning about in the DNA unit. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great blog post! I was also very interested in learning more on this topic since I have family members with type 2 diabetes. I am glad to hear that people are trying to find a cure! You were able to clearly describe what the cure is which was great. The title pulled me in with also relating directly to what you were going to talk about. Lastly, I think your writing was very detailed and included some important information. I wonder how long it will be until type 2 diabetes is extremely rare!
ReplyDelete