That disease is caused when chunks of the hormone amylin clump together.

Scientists say diabetes could be cured after compelling evidence revealed that juvenile-onset or type-1 diabetes and type-2 diabetes are both caused by the formation of toxic clumps of a hormone called amylin, stopping the cells producing insulin.

Professor Garth Cooper, from The University of Manchester with his University of Auckland-based research team, led the study.

The discovery could change the lives of millions of people who are suffering from the disease.

“As well as producing insulin, cells in the pancreas also produce another hormone called amylin. Insulin and amylin normally work together to regulate the body’s response to food intake. If they are no longer produced, then levels of sugar in the blood rise resulting in diabetes and causing damage to organs such as the heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves if blood sugar levels aren’t properly controlled,” the reasearchers highlighted.

It was further reproted that some of the amylin that is produced can get deposited around cells in the pancreas as toxic clumps, which then, in turn, destroy those cells that produce insulin and amylin. The consequence of this cell death is diabetes.

This new research provides strong evidence hat both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are driven by the same underlying mechanism.

The Manchester University team hopes to have potential medicines ready to go into clinical trials in the next two years and it is anticipated that these will be tested in both type-1 and type-2 diabetic patients. These clinical trials are being planned with research groups in England and Scotland.

 
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