The discovery of insulin nearly a century ago changed diabetes
from a death sentence to a chronic disease. Today a team that
includes researchers from Case Western Reserve University School
of Medicine announced a discovery that could lead to dramatic
improvements in the lives of people managing diabetes. After
decades of speculation about exactly how insulin interacts with
cells, the international group of scientists finally found a
definitive answer: in an article published today in the journal
Nature, the group describes how insulin binds to the cell to
allow the cell to transform sugar into energy—and also how the
insulin itself changes shape as a result of this connection.
"These findings carry profound implications for diabetes
patients," said Case Western Reserve biochemistry professor and
department chair Michael A. Weiss, MD, PhD, MBA, one of the
leaders of the team. "This new information increases
exponentially the chances that we can develop better
treatments—in particular, oral medications instead