Biomathematics was recently employed in the search for a treatment that could cure type 2 diabetes. The research used a mix of math and technology in order to create a formula that could reverse the effects of this disease.
The study, published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology, was carried out by scientists from the Florida State University.
Type 2 Diabetes Cure — The First Step
Diabetes consists of the body's impossibility to make insulin, which translates into high blood sugar. Currently, there are roughly 30 million people in the United States affected by this disease, and 95 percent of them have type 2 diabetes.
The research involved reactivating oscillations in insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells, which is one of the most important steps in curing this disease and restoring the body's insulin production.
While reactivating the process of making insulin is a breakthrough, it also comes along with two important questions which are to be analyzed in future research.
The first one is whether people's pancreatic cells can be switched on after being shut down, and the other one addresses the mix of math and technology employed in this study and whether it can prevent or even reverse type 2 diabetes.
Professor Richard Bertram, senior author of the research, is optimistic about the directions that this process opens, as it paves the way toward creating a functional cure for this disease.
"There's no one else using this combination of tools. It's nice to be doing scientific work gaining insights that no one else is gaining because we have the right collaboration with the right tools," he noted.
Permanent Treatment: A Possible Solution
As part of the research, Bertram and Michael Roper, one of the study authors, created a device very similar to a credit card, which is equipped with microscopic channels that can help deliver glucose liquid solution to the pancreatic beta cells in exactly the right amount that they need.
The researchers tested the device on mice, administering them small dosages of glucose to the dormant pancreatic cells. When the doses simulated a healthy body through which they were emitted, they triggered the oscillators in the cells. This resulted in the pancreatic cells releasing insulin.
After this very successful test, the researchers are looking forward to employing microbiology and mathematic models in fashioning a permanent, stable cure for the disease.
This research comes one year after the Food and Drug Administration approved a clinical trial of type 1diabetes vaccine BCG, a phase II of the vaccine trial. The trial was set to last for five years, which means it will end by 2021.
"This is not a prevention trial; instead, we are trying to create a regimen that will treat even advanced disease," noted Denise Faustman, lead author of the research.
