Physical Wellness

Type-1 and Type-2 Diabetes Are Caused By Same Underlying Mechanism, Study Finds

By Kamal Nayan | Update Date: Aug 20, 2014 05:43 PM EDT

Both major forms of diabetes, type-1 and type-2 are the result of the same mechanism, suggests a new research. 

According to the research, type-1 and type-2 diabetes are both caused by the formation of toxic clumps of a hormone called amylin. 

Findings of the study suggest that type-1 and type-2 diabetes could both be slowed down and potentially reversed by medicines that stop amylin forming these toxic clumps. 

As well as producing insulin, cells in the pancreas also produce another hormone called amylin. Insulin and amylin normally work together to regulate the body's response to food intake. If they are no longer produced, then levels of sugar in the blood rise resulting in diabetes and causing damage to organs such as the heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves if blood sugar levels aren't properly controlled, the press release added. 

Previous research by the same team had suggested that this is the causative mechanism in type-2 diabetes. The new research evidently proves that type-1 diabetes results from the same mechanism. 

Researchers expect to have potential medications ready to go into clinical trials in the next couple of years. 

The study has been published in the FASEB Journal. 

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