Further Insight Into Type 2 Diabetes

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Type 2 (age-related) diabetes can usually be avoided through smarter lifestyle choices, but further insights into biochemical mechanisms and genetic risks associated with diabetes will lead to therapies to help people who did not make these choices. From EurekAlert, news of a gene that "likely influences the ability of the pancreas to recruit a type of cell essential for constructing the walls of blood vessels. The beta cells of the pancreas, which are the critical insulin producing cells of the organ, are found clustered together in structures called islets and are nourished by a complex network of small blood vessels. If there are changes in this gene [the] blood vessels within islets may not form properly. ... The hope is this will open up scientists' thinking to realize that there are other cells of importance (in diabetes) beyond beta cells."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-05/uow-sfg050406.php