Cellular tinkering
If the devil is in the details, what would you call the devil in Type 2 diabetes? Inflammation, according to scientists.
Working with mice and a theory, researchers are showing that inflammation is the oil that runs the disease engine. And if there's a way to disconnect the process—there may be hope for a disruption of the connection that links obesity to insulin resistance.
The research group dove deep in this particular study, aiming for a pearl that's known as a macrophage. These are immune cells found in the bone marrow that work as custodians in the body. They help destroy harmful bacteria and tumor cells. When they activate inside of tissue, such as fat tissue, they let loose a torrent of cytokines.
These cytokines are signaling proteins that enable cells to communicate with one another. They regulate immunity and inflammation. They can cause insulin resistance in those fat cells, and also in the liver and muscle cells. The insulin resistance is the red carpet that leads right to the door of Type 2 diabetes.
Back to the macrophages. The researchers, using mice, worked to undermine these macrophages by removing a key inflammatory ingredient, called JNK1. Manipulating bone marrow by transplanting it from a mouse that was engineered to have no JNK1, they injected it into a mouse that had its bone marrow killed off completely.
Next, the mice were force-fed a high-fat diet. (Sounds cruel when done to mice, but people do it to themselves on a daily basis and don't think twice about it.) The mice without JNK1 were fed into an obese state, but they did not develop the insulin resistance. In addition, they didn't develop that troublemaker, inflammation.
The research team is pleased with the results of the study, and hope it can be translated into a treatment for humans by cutting off this macrophage pathway.
Even so, it seems like a lot of tinkering and who knows what potential good or bad can come from it in the long-term. Exactly how many people are likely to benefit from such an intervention? I'm inclined to stick with old-fashioned methods. Some may turn their nose up at that, snickering at the idea of notions such as "balancing your diet" and "taking a daily walk," but at least they're natural.
I guess the naysayers don't see the irony of believing in notions such as "magic bullet cures." While it's all being hashed out, I wouldn't wait for a cure and take a chance on insulin resistance developing in your body. An excellent way to fight inflammation is by taking fish oil. I recommend you supplement with 1 to 2 grams total EPA plus DHA.
