For the 25 percent of type-2 diabetes patients who suffer from numbness and extreme nerve pain in their feet, a new dermatological treatment being tested by Northwestern Medicine scientists could potentially help prevent and maybe even reverse the neuropathy.
In a study just published in Molecular Pain, Northwestern Medicine researchers showed that depleting a chemical called GM3 through genetic modification prevented the development of neuropathy in obese diabetic mice.
The researchers are now applying a gene therapy ointment to deplete GM3 and GM3 synthase, which is the enzyme that makes GM3. The hope is that this GM3-depleting ointment, applied just to the footpad of diabetic mice, will prevent or, even better, reverse the existing neuropathy.
The type of neuropathy the researchers are trying to treat goes beyond the typical numbness some patients with neuropathy experience, said first author Dr. Daniela Menichella, assistant professor of neurology at Feinberg whose focus is the clinical care and laboratory-based research of diabetic neuropathy.
Leading up to this treatment, the researchers had discovered that routine diabetic mice had a lot more GM3 and GM3 synthase in their nerves compared to normal mice. They found the same thing to be true in the skin of mice and humans with diabetes.
The scientists then compared the appearance and function of the nerves in mice in which GM3 was depleted by genetic manipulation. In routine diabetic mouse skin, the nerves had virtually disappeared from degeneration, but they were absolutely normal in appearance in the GM3-depleted mice, even though the mice were as obese and diabetic as the routine diabetic mice.
To test response to pain, researchers used filaments of increasing force to touch the paws of mice and then timed how long it took for the mice to withdraw their paw from the pain stimulation.
Based on these discoveries, the researchers have advanced the approach to regionally depleting GM3 in the feet with the novel ointment.
Source: Northwestern University
In a study just published in Molecular Pain, Northwestern Medicine researchers showed that depleting a chemical called GM3 through genetic modification prevented the development of neuropathy in obese diabetic mice.
The researchers are now applying a gene therapy ointment to deplete GM3 and GM3 synthase, which is the enzyme that makes GM3. The hope is that this GM3-depleting ointment, applied just to the footpad of diabetic mice, will prevent or, even better, reverse the existing neuropathy.
The type of neuropathy the researchers are trying to treat goes beyond the typical numbness some patients with neuropathy experience, said first author Dr. Daniela Menichella, assistant professor of neurology at Feinberg whose focus is the clinical care and laboratory-based research of diabetic neuropathy.
Leading up to this treatment, the researchers had discovered that routine diabetic mice had a lot more GM3 and GM3 synthase in their nerves compared to normal mice. They found the same thing to be true in the skin of mice and humans with diabetes.
The scientists then compared the appearance and function of the nerves in mice in which GM3 was depleted by genetic manipulation. In routine diabetic mouse skin, the nerves had virtually disappeared from degeneration, but they were absolutely normal in appearance in the GM3-depleted mice, even though the mice were as obese and diabetic as the routine diabetic mice.
To test response to pain, researchers used filaments of increasing force to touch the paws of mice and then timed how long it took for the mice to withdraw their paw from the pain stimulation.
Based on these discoveries, the researchers have advanced the approach to regionally depleting GM3 in the feet with the novel ointment.
Source: Northwestern University
No comments:
Post a Comment