Researchers discover how a high-fat diet causes type ...( mplications because reduced GnT-4a expr...)

mplications because reduced GnT-4a expression has been observed by other researchers in tissue samples from humans with diabetes. "If you could somehow stimulate production of this enzyme, you might be able to render animals, and perhaps humans, resistant to high-fat diet-induced diabetes," said Marth.

To explore such possible clinical applications, Marth and his colleagues are now testing whether over-expression of the GnT-4a gene in transgenic mice makes them resistant to diabetes induced by a high-fat diet or by transcriptional factor mutations that cause MODY.

"If our findings can be applied to humans, they should give us important insights into how type 2 diabetes may be prevented and treated," he said.

While a deficiency of insulin can cause diabetes, too much insulin can also be harmful, and has been found to contribute to the pathogenesis of cancer, cardiovascular disease, ovarian diseases, and Alzheimer's disease. "It may be that suppressing insulin production to some degree could be beneficial in such disorders, and that could theoretically be achieved by inhibiting the GnT-4a glycosyltransferase," Marth said.

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Contact: Jim Keeley
keeleyj@hhmi.org
301-215-8858
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
28-Dec-2005

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