NZ scientists confident of diabetes cure after research breakthrough

New Zealand scientists said Monday they could be closer to a cure for diabetes after identifying a hormone that causes the disease.

The discovery by an international research team meant scientists knew the trigger mechanism that causes beta-cells of the pancreas, which make insulin, to die in both type-1 and type-2 diabetes, study leader Professor Garth Cooper, of Auckland University's School of Biological Sciences, said in a statement.

The research showed "compelling evidence" that type-1, or juvenile onset, diabetes and type-2 diabetes were both caused by the formation of tiny toxic clumps of amylin, a hormone produced by the same cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.

The small clumps of amylin in turn destroyed the cells that produced insulin and amylin, resulting in diabetes, where sugar levels in the blood rise, causing damage to organs such as the heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves.

"We are confident this discovery can be used to make new classes of anti-diabetic medicines and hope to have potential medicines ready for entry into clinical trials within the next two years," Cooper said.

"We aim to treat patients with both forms of the disease with the objective being to stop the death of the insulin-producing cells and the longer-term goal of increasing these cells."

According to the International Diabetes Federation, the number of people contracting diabetes worldwide is expected to reach 592 million by 2035.

But the causal mechanisms for both types of diabetes have remained obscure, making it very difficult to design effective medicines for its prevention or cure.

The two common forms of diabetes are type-1, also known as juvenile onset diabetes in which insulin is vital to ensure survival, and type-2, the more common form which is an increasing global health problem.