Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder characterised by insufficient insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells and/or impaired response to insulin in peripheral tissues (insulin resistance). It is characterised by hyperglycaemia which if not controlled can damage the cardiovascular system, eyes (retinopathy), kidneys (nephropathy) and nerves (neuropathy).

It is estimated that over 220 million people worldwide have diabetes (WHO Fact sheet No 312).  Type 2 diabetes (formerly called non-insulin-dependent or adult onset diabetes) accounts for 90% of these cases. The incidence of type 2 diabetes is rapidly growing, largely as a result of excess body weight and reduced physical activity.

The initial approach to treat type 2 diabetes is to focus on lifestyle changes and to reduce body weight by improvements in diet and increased exercise, however, as the disease progresses treatment with one or more drugs and/or insulin therapy may be required.

A variety of different pharmacological approaches have been exploited to improve glycaemic control (eg insulin secretagogues, PPAR-γ-activators, α-glucosidase inhibitors, DPP-IV inhibitors, GLP-1 mimetics and amylin analogues). However, despite recent advances, there is a clear unmet need for more efficacious and safer drugs to treat this chronic disorder.

RenaSci offers a variety of in vitro assays and animal models for the evaluation of novel compounds to treat type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders.