European project offers prospect of early diabetes diagnosis
A European project, funded as part of the Fifth Framework programme's Biomed 2 programme has led to the identification of one of the genes involved in the development of adult diabetes. The findings, made by a consortium of scientists from Belgium, France and Canada, may help doctors diagnose the disease in its earliest stages, and thus predispose people to adult-onset or 'type II' diabetes. Findings may also make new treatments possible, as SHIP2, the identified gene, is a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of this non-insulin-dependent type of diabetes, which is on the increase in the developing world. Research, led by Dr Stephane Schurmans of the Free University of Brussels, engineered mice lacking SHIP2. The mice show that the gene is a critical and essential down-regulator of insulin signalling and insulin sensitivity. Mice born with a deactivated SHIP2 gene were born with very low blood sugar levels and died shortly after birth. Dr Schurmans has said that the research has two potential benefits: if a drug to make the SHIP2 gene work more effectively in their bodies could be developed, patients' insulin sensitivity could be restored, and their blood sugar levels would return to normal. The finding could also help with diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in its earliest stages. At present, late diagnosis is causing complications such as blindness or kidney failure.