DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #28: FUTURE Cure or Treatment: Shutting Down Our Liver’s Hyperactive Glucose Production

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: NEW as of May 2025... research into ways to shut down the CAUSE of our Type 2 Diabetes
This article is so new, it was a definite challenge to my goal of “translating CURRENT research on Type 2 into English understandable to a NORMAL person, not only someone with a BS in Biology!” Mt attempt follows...

“Type 2 diabetes (T2DM)…is a…disease (that shows itself by high levels of) glucose (in the blood). Insulin resistance starts in the liver, muscles, and fat…and decreases how much glucose the blood takes up. We end up with high blood sugars, technically called “hyperglycemia”. In the liver, glucose is built from noncarbs, and made instead of tiny molecules called amino acids and lactate (a kind of sugar that comes from milk.) The scientific word for what it’s doing is gluco– neo—genesis and glucose production being produced in the liver (HGP). Insulin in our blood (or injected) slows it down and makes sure it stays nice and steady – neither disappearing and feeding the cells just enough. When we are insulin RESISTANT, the body can’t regulate the insulin like it’s supposed to and causes hyperglycemia. Suppressing the hyperactivation of hepatic gluconeogenesis is THE treatment scientists are looking for: “an effective pharmacological intervention for treating T2DM”.”

The Conclusion of the Study

The upshot is that they DID discover a chemical that can be used to “Hyperactivated liver glucose production contributes to fasting hyperglycemia in patients with type 2. FOXO1, “…a shorter name for something called a ‘Forkhead box protein O1’. It helps to regulate our metabolism. It also controls insulin and other cellular processes but stopping gluconeogenesis in the liver. It IS a POSSIBLE target drug for treating type 2. However, by itself, it’s a poor candidate to make directly into a drug treatment. Scientists are working to regulate its activity or increase its stability as a pill.”

“Previous studies have shown that there ARE chemicals in our own cells that can increase the number of β-cells and improve insulin secretion. This study reveals that DYRK1B plays a crucial role in gluconeogenesis regulated by FOXO1, highlighting a previously unknown function of DYRK1B. By finding and combining molecules that would slow or stop both DYRK1A and DYRK1B we might eventually offer a comprehensive approach to diabetes treatment, opening new avenues for targeted diabetes therapies that consider both β-cell proliferation and HGP.”

It's not going to be a pill we can pop tomorrow – but it MIGHT be a pill any of our kids or grandkids or great-grandkids can use to control DIABETES!

Links: MAY 2025 – https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/53/8/gkaf319/8120560
https://www.forbes.com/sites/juergeneckhardt/2025/03/18/emerging-breakthroughs-in-diabetes-treatment-a-new-era-of-hope/ 

Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg