diabetes

Vanderbilt University scientists have found evidence that the insulin-secreting beta cells of the pancreas, which are either killed or become dysfunctional in the two main forms of diabetes, have the capacity to regenerate.

Vanderbilt researchers describe a new technique for identifying factors that stimulate the proliferation of pancreatic beta cells – factors that might offer therapeutic options for diabetes.

The IDIOM study is designed to compare how a diet with moderate caloric restriction, alone or with long-acting insulin, affects areas of the brain’s dopamine system that are involved in food intake, reward and the sense of pleasure people get from eating.

The hormone relaxin may offer a novel approach for treating diet-induced insulin resistance.

Researchers at the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital have identified a biomarker that can predict diabetes risk up to 10 years before onset of the disease.

Vanderbilt’s Eskind Diabetes Clinic has been selected to examine the ability of the drug abatacept to prevent type 1 diabetes (T1D). As part of the TrialNet consortium, Vanderbilt will be one of 14 North American sites observing the effects of the drug in people at high risk to develop T1D.

Gaining and losing weight during “yo-yo dieting” may contribute to an exaggerated immune response in fat tissue that increases metabolic dysfunction more than steady weight gain alone.