Endocrine Abstracts

Impaired glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity are established hallmarks of diabetes and it was speculated that also fructose tolerance could be impaired. However, investigation of fructose tolerance has been hampered by the lack of easy accessible pharmacodynamic markers. In humans, the hormone FGF21 has recently been demonstrated to be a sensitive pharmacodynamic marker responding to an oral fructose bolus and exhibiting a divergent secretion pattern in obese diabetic an...

Excess consumption of saturated fatty acids may lead to an increased production of ceramides that contribute to development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Substantial research demonstrated that inhibition of ceramide biosynthesis ameliorates atherosclerosis, hepatic steatosis, insulin resistance and obesity. However, as ceramides and their sphingolipid products are involved in multiple fundamental cellular processes, concerns exist about possible risks or adverse e...

Class 2a HDACs (i.e. HDAC 4, 5, 7 and 9) are involved in the regulation of gluconeogenesis and accordingly, their inhibition has been shown to result in lower blood glucose and improved pyruvate tolerance in diabetic mice. However, pan-inhibition of HDACs is not a viable approach for chronic treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D) due to induction of severe side effects in various tissues. We now have investigated in vitro and in vivo efficacy and safety of a live...