Insulin resistance precedes and predicts the onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), a chronic disease that causes high morbidity and mortality worldwide. In affected people, insulin is unable to facilitate the uptake of glucose through tissues and organs, leading to an increase in blood glucose (chronic hyperglycaemia). Since skeletal muscle is the tissue that uses the most glucose in response to insulin action, it is the most affected tissue by insulin resistance.
Now, a study published in Cell Communication and Signaling describes new molecular mechanisms to understand insulin resistance in skeletal muscle and to outline future drug targets for DM2.
The study is led by Manuel Vázquez-Carrera, from the UB's Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB) and the Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute (IRSJD) and the Networking Biomedical Research Centre's Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases area (CIBERDEM). Ricardo Rodríguez-Calvo (CIBERDEM and Universitat Rovira i Virgili), Antoni Camins (UBNeuro and CIBERNED) and Walter Wahli, from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), among other experts, also signed the paper.
Exploring the role of the insulin receptor
Poorly controlled diabetes is a serious global health problem that can damage patients' blood vessels, heart, eyes, kidneys and other organs.
