Latest research on Pharmaceutical science

|New mechanism of action in a first-line drug for diabetes|

|Researchers have discovered a mechanism of action underlying a widely used diabetes drug, which may expand its indications for use, as well as open new inroads in pharmaceutical development|

For decades, metformin has been the first-line drug in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, lowering blood glucose levels by inhibiting glucose production in the liver. Metformin also improves glucose uptake and use by muscle tissue.

The effect of metformin on hepatic glucose production is most likely transmitted through the mitochondrial respiratory chain. However, up to now the mechanism through which the drug increases glucose uptake in muscle tissue has been unknown.

A research group led by Professor Sanna Lehtonen at the University of Helsinki has now demonstrated in cell cultures and in an animal model that metformin directly binds to the lipid phosphatase SHIP2, reducing its activity. The reduction in SHIP2 activity increased glucose uptake in muscle cells and decreased cell death in podocytes, or glomerular epithelial cells.

|sources:Lehtonen Lab / University of Helsinki|                                                                                                                 #BIOMEDICINE 2019