Insulin dependence to be eliminated?

• Position: Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes could be converted to an asymptomatic, noninsulin-dependent disorder by eliminating the actions of a specific hormone, suggests research published in Diabetes. The findings demonstrate that insulin can become completely superfluous and its absence does not cause diabetes or any other abnormality when the actions of glucagon are suppressed. Glucagon, a hormone produced by the pancreas, prevents low blood sugar levels in healthy individuals, but causes high blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes.

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"We've all been brought up to think insulin is the all-powerful hormone without which life is impossible, but that isn't the case," indicates internist Roger Unger. "If diabetes is defined as restoration of glucose homeostasis to normal, then this treatment can perhaps be considered very close to a 'cure'."

Insulin treatment has been the gold standard for type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes) in humans since its discovery in 1922, but even optimal regulation of type 1 diabetes with insulin atone cannot restore normal glucose tolerance. These new findings demonstrate that the elimination of glucagon action restores glucose tolerance to normal.

Normally, glucagon is released when the glucose--or sugar--level in the blood is low. In insulin deficiency, however, glucagon levels are inappropriately high and cause the liver to...