The American Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Foundation (JDRF) for the fight against diabetes has financed with $ 500,000 an Andalusian project centered on type 1 diabetes. It is a world -free non -profit organization worldwide that promotes the development ofResearch that can open new ways to the treatment of this pathology and improve the quality of life of those who suffer from it.
The work, endowed with $ 500,000 for the next three years, is led by the Benoit Gauthier biochemistry, in collaboration with the professor of the University of Seville David Pozo, both main researchers at the Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (Cabimer).
This project is part of the line of research that the Gauthier center has been developing, for which it has financing from the Junta de Andalucía in addition to other national programs, and that is oriented to the translation of a quality investigation into new innovative therapiesFor the treatment of diabetes.
Specifically, the project aims to validate the hypothesis that the biological activation of the LRH-1 protein could prevent or delay the appearance of diabetes.
The selective destruction of the pancreas beta cells, which are the source of insulin in the body, is the main cause of type 1 diabetes. The Gauthier research team has shown that the activation of LRH-1 in the pancreas paralyzes saiddestruction and guarantees the survival of these cells.
In this sense, scientists have managed to characterize a molecule, called BL001, capable of activating the biological activity of LHR-1 and, therefore, responsible for operating the protein to safeguard the Beta cells of the pancreas.
This molecule stands as a possible therapeutic component to fight diabetes.The BL001 molecule has been properly patented and presented in the Industrial and Intellectual Property Registry by the Office of Technology Transfer of the Public Health System of Andalusia, located within the Andalusian Public Foundation Progress and Health.
The results obtained from this research, which will last until 2016, will allow to assess and propose new alternative treatments to insulin injections in patients with type 1 diabetes with which to prevent medical complications associated with glycemia slopes (known asspikes and valleys) that usually occur in these cases.
In the long term, the work done allows pharmacologically characterizing a new gene target for an innovative treatment of type 1 diabetes. The group's research line has other diabetes projects and its relationship with other pathologies, such as, for example, thecancer.For its development, it has achieved financing of private groups and associations nationwide and even provincial.
