Daily Archives: January 3, 2014

Gene medicine is making breakthroughs for health questions that have baffled humanity for centuries. Gene therapy is the applicable aspect of the science of gene medicine. Treatments are being developed that can reverse genetic diseases at the molecular level. Health questions that have previously be unanswered are now being solved. Health questions like how to remedy chronic pain are now being clinically tested and the gene therapy is already showing substantial subsiding of pain for the clinical trial patients. As countries put more funding into gene medicine, and more collaboration takes place between those countries, many of the health questions that we have today will be answered in the next decade

Gene medicine is one of the medical disciplines that affect all aspects of human health. From allergies, bone growth and cell development. Gene medicine is also one of the most mysterious to those with health questions as the science is only recognized in the media when discoveries are made. However, research is going on everyday in the field of gene medicine and breakthroughs, while they dont happen everyday, are happening more often. Gene medicine is beginning to look deeper into how dieseases can be blocked, removed and altered using our own human chemistry. Those with health questions and that want to find out more can read any number of medical periodicals that are being released every month. To read the latest news about health and medicine go here

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Gene Medicine and Health

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Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found that dysfunction in a single gene in mice causes fasting hyperglycemia, one of the major symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Their findings were reported online in the journal Diabetes.

If a gene called MADD is not functioning properly, insulin is not released into the bloodstream to regulate blood sugar levels, says Bellur S. Prabhakar, professor and head of microbiology and immunology at UIC and lead author of the paper.

Type 2 diabetes affects roughly 8 percent of Americans and more than 366 million people worldwide. It can cause serious complications, including cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, loss of limbs and blindness.

In a healthy person, beta cells in the pancreas secrete the hormone insulin in response to increases in blood glucose after eating. Insulin allows glucose to enter cells where it can be used as energy, keeping glucose levels in the blood within a narrow range. People with type 2 diabetes dont produce enough insulin or are resistant to its effects. They must closely monitor their blood glucose throughout the day and, when medication fails, inject insulin.

In previous work, Prabhakar isolated several genes from human beta cells, including MADD, which is also involved in certain cancers. Small genetic variations found among thousands of human subjects revealed that a mutation in MADD was strongly associated with type 2 diabetes in Europeans and Han Chinese.

People with this mutation had high blood glucose and problems of insulin secretion the "hallmarks of type 2 diabetes, Prabhakar said. But it was unclear how the mutation was causing the symptoms, or whether it caused them on its own or in concert with other genes associated with type 2 diabetes.

To study the role of MADD in diabetes, Prabhakar and his colleagues developed a mouse model in which the MADD gene was deleted from the insulin-producing beta cells. All such mice had elevated blood glucose levels, which the researchers found was due to insufficient release of insulin.

We didnt see any insulin resistance in their cells, but it was clear that the beta cells were not functioning properly, Prabhakar said. Examination of the beta cells revealed that they were packed with insulin. The cells were producing plenty of insulin, they just werent secreting it, he said.

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Loss of Function of a Single Gene Linked to Diabetes in Mice