A new treatment for a major killer of people with type 2 diabetes could be in the works after a significant University of Otago discovery.
Otago researchers have found a microscopic difference in the hearts of most people with the blood sugar condition, which affects 10% of New Zealanders.
More than 50% of people with type 2 diabetes die from heart disease, and Associate Prof Rajesh Katare, of Otago’s department of physiology, said while stem-cell therapy was effective in treating heart disease, generally, it did not work for diabetic hearts because tiny molecules called microRNA were different among about 70% of diabetics.
One particular microRNA, called miR-30c, was crucial for stem cells’ survival, growth and new blood vessel formation, Prof Katare said.
It was deficient in diabetic stem cells, a finding confirmed when stem cells were collected from the heart tissue of patients undergoing heart surgery at Dunedin Hospital.
But researchers found they were able to increase the level of the lacking miR-30c in the heart by a simple injection, Prof Katare said.
Apart from identifying the reasons for poor stem-cell function in a patient with diabetes, the new therapy of using microRNA could change the treatment for heart disease in diabetic individuals, Prof Katare said.
The hope was people with type 2 diabetes who needed stem-cell therapy for their heart disease could receive an injection that would help out the microRNA miR-30c and allow the stem-cell therapy to work.
Further, while the study had no data on non-diabetic stem cells, researchers suspected it would have wider implications — for other stem-cell therapies.
The hope was stem-cell therapy would become more effective ‘‘and easier’’ in all cases.
Researchers would complete further laboratory testing before human trials began, he said.
