Reader's Corner

The conventional wisdom has been that type 2 diabetes is caused largely by fat and muscle cells becoming resistant to insulin, the hormone secreted by the pancreas that enables cells to absorb blood sugar and turn it into energy. Now it seems that other kinds of insulin-resistant cells may be just as, if not more, important. A research paper in the Science suggests that insulin-resistant brain cells can start a chain reaction that leads to diabetes. Researchers from the Josline Diabetes Center in Boston, the University of Cologne, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory genetically engineered mice so that the insulin receptors of their brain cells didn’t work properly. The altered brain cells triggered insulin resistance in other parts of the body. Blood sugar levels of the mice shot up. This research could open the door to new diabetes drugs that will target insulin resistance in the brain.