New diabetes treatment

A new hormone discovered by researchers at Harvard University in America has been found to increase the growth of cells that secrete insulin into the blood stream. The hormone, called betatrophin, was tested on mice which began to produce cells 30 times the average rate. Scientists suggest that the hormone could be more effective at treating type 2 diabetes sufferers, who currently must inject insulin daily to control the amount of sugar in their blood. The researchers added that patients could potentially only need to take the new hormone weekly or monthly. Speaking to British newspaper The Telegraph, Dr Doug Melton, from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute who conducted the research, said: "If this could be used in people it could eventually mean that instead of taking insulin injections three times a day, you might take an injection of this hormone once a week or once a month, or in the best case maybe even once a year.”He added: "We would provide this hormone, the type 2 diabetic will make more of their own insulin-producing cells, and this will slow down, if not stop, the progression of their diabetes.” Type 2 diabetes is a chronic illness that occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin – a hormone produced in the pancreas which controls glucose levels in the blood. Left untreated, the condition could lead to damage of the blood vessels and other organs that would result in the loss of limbs or blindness. The research is published in the journal Cell and also found that betatrophin caused a surge in the growth of cells in the pancreas. Scientists warn that the findings are still at the early stages, adding that it would be several years before a treatment using the hormone could be developed for humans.