The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as an exocrine gland, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that pass to the small intestine. These enzymes help in the further breakdown of the carbohydrates, protein, and fat in the chyme.
Published in JAMA, a University of Minnesota led study shows that verapamil, a drug commonly used to treat high blood pressure and heart conditions, can have a beneficial effect on the pancreas in children with newly-diagnosed type 1 diabetes (T1D).
Takeaki Ozawa and his team from the University of Tokyo reveal the metabolic reactions upon activating an enzyme called Akt2.
A new review was published in Genes & Cancer on February 1, 2023, entitled, "CEACAMS 1, 5, and 6 in disease and cancer: interactions with pathogens."
When cells copy DNA to produce RNA transcripts, they include only some chunks of genetic material known as exons and throw out the rest.
Although it has long been believed that microRNA (miRNA) molecules in pancreatic islets play significant roles in Type 2 diabetes, no specific miRNAs have been definitively linked to the disease in humans.
A massive clinical study on an approved psoriasis drug is now underway. The drug will be tested on people who have just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The drug, according to the theory, could preserve the patient’s remaining insulin production.
Insulin injections to treat Type 1 diabetes could become a thing of the past, but finding the cure faces many challenges.
A team of Canadian researchers from Université de Montréal has designed and validated a new class of drug transporters made of DNA that are 20,000 times smaller than a human hair and that could improve how cancers and other diseases are treated.
Nearly ten years ago, a graduate student at UO Jennifer Hampton Hill stumbled upon something fortunate: a peptide produced by gut bacteria that prompted the division of cells that make insulin.
Researchers from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and RWJBarnabas Health investigated the microbiome of pancreatic tumors and discovered certain microbes linked to inflammation and poor survival.
Recent research from the School of Medicine has illuminated the development of the liver, lungs, and digestive system. This result may have significant ramifications for the comprehension of cancer.
For the first time, scientists at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have discovered a DNA sequence that is essential for pancreatic development and function.
A team of researchers led by the University of California, Irvine has discovered that treatment with an extract from the roots of the Rhodiola rosea plant might be effective for helping manage type 2 diabetes, showing promise as a safe and effective non-pharmaceutical alternative.
As part of our SLAS Europe 2022 coverage, we speak to Steve Rees, Vice-President of Discovery Biology at AstraZeneca, about the challenges currently faced by the drug discovery sector.
Research studying the autoimmune response, in which the immune system kills the insulin-producing pancreatic islet beta cells, is a common topic of type 1 diabetes research.
A new study performed has offered better knowledge about how genetic factors tend to impact the immune response of the body in type 1 diabetes.
The multidisciplinary Zurich research team Liver4Life has succeeded in doing something during a treatment attempt that had never been achieved in the history of medicine until now: it treated an originally damaged human liver in a machine for three days outside a body and then implanted the recovered organ into a cancer patient.
The pancreas secretes around a cup of digestive juices per day—a mixture of molecules capable of breaking down the food people consume.
The pancreas is a key metabolic regulator. When pancreatic beta cells cease producing enough insulin, blood sugar levels rise dangerously — a phenomenon known as hyperglycemia — thus triggering diabetes.
Researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have created RNA molecules that bind to human pancreatic beta cells, which generate insulin and are destroyed in type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients.