Diabetes has been one of the top diseases worldwide. Medical practitioners and researchers continue to find better treatment for diabetes. Researchers are now turning to a potential source for treatment of the disease. A type of marine cone snail might hold an effective treatment for diabetes.
Researchers from the United States and Australia have found that the venom of a marine cone snail could be key for an "ultra fast-acting" insulin. The structure of this venom has a protein called Con-Ins G1 that is said to be much faster than human insulin, according to Science Daily. One feature of this protein is that it can bind to human insulin receptors.
Leading the study is Associate Professor Mike Lawrence from Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. His research is part of a collaborative study with the University of Utah, Monash University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, La Trobe University and Flinders University in Australia.
Researchers found that the cone snail insulin doesn't have a hinge that causes human insulin to clump together into six-molecule arrays. This breakup is what makes insulin effective, and the insulin found on cone snail venom is that fast. Professor Lawrence says that the cone snail insulin is primed and ready, as Forbes reported.
"We found that cone snail venom insulins work faster than human insulins by avoiding the structural changes that human insulins undergo in order to function," Associate Professor Lawrence said.
The cone snail insulin can act as quickly as five minutes. Present insulin medications used for diabetes still takes around 15-30 minutes before it can break down insulin. Though it can break down insulin that fast, researchers will still have to find out how effective it would be for diabetes treatment.
Diabetics take more than one insulin medication. The use of different insulin medications has to do with the different speeds they have in taking effect. The cone snail insulin could be used in conjunction with other insulin medications that are now out in the market.
The next step in the research is to apply the results of the study to design new treatments for diabetes, Dr. Helena Safavi-Hemami of the University of Utah and co-author of the study said.
As researchers find a cure for diabetes, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are starting an initiative aimed at greatly reducing diseases before the end of the 21st century, as a recent iTechPost report covered.
