Insight in to insulin could lead to new diabetes treatment

Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have uncovered the structure of a part of the insulin receptor, which, until now, has remained a mystery.

This finding improves our understanding of how insulin interacts with the insulin receptor, which is crucial information if we're to understand how it binds, and how it might be manipulated for therapeutics.

“By understanding how insulin binds and transmits messages into the cell we will be in a better position to design compounds that mimic insulin and could be used to treat diabetes,” said Dr Mike Lawrence, from the WEHI's Structural Biology division, in a statement.

As well as determining the three-dimensional structure of the insulin receptor, the WEHI team is also trying to work out the structure of the related Type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor, to which insulin-like growth factors bind.

The research was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Victorian Government, the National Institutes of Health (US) and the University of Chicago Diabetes Research and Training Center.

The paper was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA early edition.