Diabetes get its metal
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| Crystal clear insulin (courtesy of NASA)
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Weizmann Institute scientists are working on a viable alternative to insulin based on vanadium, which could help alleviate the suffering of type II diabetic patients.
Yoram Shechter of the Institute's Biological Chemistry Department was one of a group of scientists who discovered, several years ago, that the trace element vanadium could mimic many of the metabolic effects of insulin in tissue studies and could even correct metabolic defects associated with diabetes where insulin is lacking or malfunctioning.
The pursuit of insulin mimics based on vanadium has two main drivers - the first is that it they could be given orally rather than by injection, the second is that for type II patients their disease means that insulin does not stimulate its receptors fully whereas a mimic might do the job. The main problem is that vanadium is toxic so getting the right balance between insulin-like activity and reducing toxicicity to an acceptable level has not been easy.
Shechter, working with organic chemist Mati Fridkin and graduate student Itzhak Goldwaser, has recently achieved something of a breakthrough. The researchers have worked their way through hundreds of tests to finally hit on a family of amino acid analogues that when complexed to vanadium are three times as potent as the metal alone.
The team reports in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1999, 274, 26617 several new compounds - patented through Yeda Research and Development Co. Ltd. They describe in more detail the proposed mode of action and how they can effectively regulate glucose levels in diabetic laboratory animals at small doses.
Further animal trials will indicate whether or not the drug leads should be pursued in the clinic or not. According to team member Goldwaser the compound is being developed by a start-up company named LAPID Pharmaceuticals Ltd created by PAMOT Venture Capital fund and Yeda.
