One of the holy grails in diabetes research is to discover molecules that stimulate beta cell growth and to find drugs that target these molecules. Now, JDRF-funded researchers in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche, have done both, discovering not only a protein that regulates beta cell growth, but also a chemical compound that stimulates it. The work appears in the September 7 issue of Cell Metabolism. The discovery, led by Markus Stoffel, M.D., Ph.D., a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, represents a significant advance in identifying a new drug target for beta cell regeneration.
