A medication commonly used to treat osteoporosis has been found to spark the production of cells that control insulin balance in diabetic mice in a study published on June 18, 2015 in Cell Metabolism. The drug is called Denosumab and is already FDA-approved for osteoporosis, making it more likely to move faster through further studies and into the hands of diabetics than other compounds with the same function. Type 1 diabetes is caused by the immune system’s attack on beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. In type 2 diabetes, the body becomes resistant to the insulin pancreatic beta cells create which makes them produce more insulin, eventually wearing them out.
Because of these issues with the pancreatic beta cells, much diabetes research attempts to find ways to increase functioning beta cells. But adult beta cells are reluctant to divide and grow. In seeking a treatment…
