From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2006-07-05 23:45:34 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] islet cell proliferation and genetics (a new press release on a study)
To: FHL <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
I am trying this by email because I know that a member's update on a
ferret who is responding well to a skin disease treatment suggested
by Dr. Williams did not arrive, so I want to see if this route works
rather than using my usual posting on the website.
By email July 5th, 2006, 7:45 EST US
They are thinking diabetes whereas we ferret people are more thinking
in terms of insulinoma, of course, in relation to what they have
learned.
> Public release date: 5-Jul-2006
>
> Contact: Karen Kreeger
> karen.kreeger@uphs.upenn.edu
> 215-349-5658
> University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
> Mutation in tumor suppressor gene causes pancreatic islet cells to
> reproduce
>
> Cancer biology discovery could lead to new diabetes treatments
>
> Comparison of islet cell proliferation in pancreatic islets with
> (left panel) and without (right panel) menin protein. The pink dots
> within the dashed yellow circle--indicated by the red arrows--
> represent...
> Click here for more information.
>
> (Philadelphia, PA) - Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania
> School of Medicine have found that the acute loss of a protein
> called menin can cause the proliferation of pancreatic islet cells,
> which secrete insulin to regulate blood sugar. The menin gene
> (Men1) mutation in humans causes an inherited disease called
> Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 1 (MEN1). Not only could this
> discovery inform basic cancer biology, it also has implications for
> treating Type 1 diabetes. The researchers report their findings in
> the latest issue of Cancer Research.
>
> MEN1 patients develop mostly benign tumors or hyperplasia (over
> proliferation of cells) in several endocrine organs, such as
> parathyroids and pancreatic islet cells. Normally, the menin
> protein has a tumor-suppressing or cell-proliferation-suppressing
> function. Loss of menin can cause proliferation of pancreatic islet
> cells, but not the adjacent exocrine cells that secrete proteins
> other than insulin.
>
> The researchers developed an animal model that allowed for precise
> timing in "cutting" the Men1 gene from the genome of knock-out
> mice. They showed that within seven days of excising Men1,
> pancreatic islet cells proliferated in the mice. Previously, other
> labs could only see proliferating islet cells after months of Men1
> excision because they could not precisely time the process. "Our
> results show an acute effect of Men1 excision and directly link
> Men1 to repression of pancreatic islet cell proliferation," says
> senior author Xianxin Hua, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cancer
> Biology at Penn's Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute.
>
> The researchers excised Men1, the gene encoding the protein menin,
> from both islet cells and adjacent exocrine cells in the pancreas,
> but only in islet cells did they observe cells proliferating. This
> is important because Men1 mutations largely cause endocrine
> hyperplasia or tumors, but not exocrine tumors. "Our results
> showing preferential effects on islet-cell proliferation could at
> least in part explain that the loss of menin only leads to
> endocrine tumors," explains Hua.
>
> In type I diabetes, the loss of islet beta cells is the leading
> reason why a sufficient amount of insulin cannot be produced. "If
> we could eventually repress menin function to specifically
> stimulate beta-cell proliferation, this may facilitate devising new
> strategies to increase insulin-secreting beta cells and treating
> diabetes," notes Hua.
>
> "We did not expect the connection between a study about a tumor
> suppressor and a potential new avenue for treating diabetes," he
> adds. "By taking advantage of studying a genetically well-
> characterized tumor syndrome, MEN1, we set out to understand how
> the first step of benign tumor development is precisely controlled.
> The more we discovered about menin function, the better we
> understood the precise role of menin in regulating islet cell
> proliferation. This latest finding about the acute and specific
> role of menin on repressing islet cells, but not adjacent exocrine
> cells, led to the realization that manipulating the menin pathway
> might be a powerful way to stimulate islet cell proliferation to
> fight type I diabetes, although we are just beginning toward that
> goal."
>
> Study co-authors are Robert B. Schnepp, Ya-Xiong, Haoren Wang, Tim
> Cash, Albert Silva, Alan Diehl, and Eric Brown, with participation
> from the members of Dr. Eric Brown's lab and Dr. Alan Diehl's lab,
> all from Penn. This research was funded by the National Institutes
> of Health.
>
> This release and related image can also be seen at:
> www.uphs.upenn.edu/news.
>
>
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
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International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
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