Blueprint developed for creating smarter diabetes drugs

MELBOURNE researchers have taken a significant step towards the development of faster-acting and longer-lasting diabetes treatments, by creating the first 3D image of how insulin interacts with the body.

Melbourne researchers have taken a significant step towards the development of faster-acting and longer-lasting diabetes treatments, by creating the first 3D image of how insulin interacts with the body.

MELBOURNE researchers have taken a significant step towards the development of faster-acting and longer-lasting diabetes treatments, by creating the first 3D image of how insulin interacts with the body.

While it was known that the hormone works by instructing cells to lower blood sugar levels, current treatments have been designed without knowing exactly what occurs in this transaction.

Researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research have already started working with pharmaceutical companies, who will use their findings as the master plan for the development of smarter drugs that aim to interact more efficiently with the body.

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Co-lead researcher Associate Professor Mike Lawrence said the development of a new type of technology called cryo-electron microscopy — a breakthrough that saw its creators awarded last year’s Nobel prize for chemistry — had given them a never before seen view of this insulin interaction, which is the culmination of 20 years of work.

Working with German colleagues, they combined almost a million 2D images of insulin binding to the receptor on the surface of cells which instructs the uptake of glucose from the blood, to create a high-resolution 3D image.

“This is now the whole story,” Associate Prof Lawrence said.

“We want to tweak insulin a bit to make it work more quickly in the body, and with this 3D image we can see what part we need to leave alone and what we can change.”

More than one million Australians inject themselves with insulin each day to stay alive by reducing levels of glucose in the blood.

Given the restrictive nature of complying with treatments at multiple times each day, Associate Prof Lawrence said their work would now focus on creating rapid-acting insulins to reduce the burden of the disease.

“Somebody with a busy lifestyle, might not know exactly when they’re going to eat,” he said.

“If they have to inject 20 minutes before a meal, people don’t comply with that. They either inject too soon or too late, or not at all. They’re not treating their diabetes optimally.

“How can we tweak injected insulin to make it act just that bit more quickly? This type of information tells us what we can change to benefit the patient that bit more.”

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.