Today I attended a course on exentide (Byetta), a new therapy for diabetes. It's an injectable peptide hormone that helps the pancreas secrete insulin appropriately when glucose levels are high after a meal. (For you nerds out there, it binds the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor in beta cells). GLP-1 is deficient in diabetics; the whole mechanism is not fully understood. Many of my diabetic patients are adequately treated for the first time in their disease course because of this new therapy.
Here's the interesting part: Exentide comes from the saliva of the Gila monster. It's part of the nasty venom cocktail released down grooves in the teeth as the Gila monster chews its prey. Wiley scientists now have a way for bacteria to produce the lizard's magic molecule, so PETA won't need to protest Gila monster-farming anytime soon.
Even more interesting is that there appears to be extensive conservation among species: exendin-4, the reptile peptide, is very closely related to latrotoxin, the chief neurotoxin in the venom of the black widow spider. Other venomous species all appear to have this same peptide homologue.
It's puzzling to me. How can something which evolved to be toxic to us now be our deliverance from the obesity/diabetes epidemic? And will I have to prescribe spider juice in the future?
5 comments:
I wonder how they decided to test venom of a desert lizard for it's effectiveness in diabetes. In a similar vein, protamine comes from Salmon Sperm....that must have been one very pervese or very bored researcher
Kinda mkes me want to be a researcher just so I can do whatever the heck I want and justify it as "research." I once saw someone eating an Egg McMuffin with strawberry jam poured all over it and despite their claims that it was delicious, I thought to myself: "Who in their right mind would ever think to put strawberry jam on an Egg McMuffin just to see what it tastes like." Not completely the same situation, but close enough.
If you want to know the skinny on Byetta and Byetta users check this site
www.Diabetes.blog.com
http://diabetes.blog.com/1181902/
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