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Article: Insulin shows great potential against chronic colitis

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 9/23/2018 1:42 PM (GMT 0)
'Our new treatment with insulin on mice shows great potential against chronic bowel inflammation in humans like Colitis Ulcerosa, which causes a lot of people great discomfort. Existing treatments attack the bowel's immune system, dampening it; instead our method strengthens the bowel cells' own defence. It appears to work equally well, and it can probably be used in combination with existing treatments', says Jørgen Olsen, co-inventor of the treatment and professor at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

The new study has just been published in the scientific Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, and it has examined the effect of the treatment in a series of tests on mice with chronic colitis of the type Colitis Ulcerosa, among others, from which 20.000 Danes suffer. The cause of these bowel disorders is unknown, but they cause patients great discomfort and can involve bloody diarrhoea, anaemia, stomach ache and weight loss.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/uoct-isg092118.php
Posted 9/23/2018 4:39 PM (GMT 0)
I was reading about related research recently. I recall that it may not be the insulin levels per se, but the degree of insulin sensitivity. (Of course for people with low sensitivity, a logical therapy is to supply more insulin.) The point being that ultimately the therapy that emerges may be to target mediators of insulin sensitivity rather than just supplying insulin.

It goes a bit beyond my bio-chemistry knowledge, but my take away was that adipocytokines are mediators of both inflammation (IL-6, IL-8) and metabolism. A key metabolic pathway is adiponectin, a protein hormone that looks to appears affect metabolism and insulin sensitivity via increased fatty acid oxidation and also by inhibiting glucose production in the liver.

Decreasing liver gloclose is what the common diabetes drug Metformin does, and research has found that people taking Metformin are slightly less likely to get UC. Although in my case I was taking Metformin at the time I got UC. The Metformin protection may have been overwhelmend by the whammy that massive doses of IV antibotics used to save my life.

I am encouraged by a line of research focused on metobolic pathways instead of immune pathways. Not because I don't believe of the strong involvement of the immune system, but because more areas to target with therapy is more options and tools and ultimately more total understanding of UC.
Posted 9/23/2018 7:11 PM (GMT 0)
Interesting article...thanks for posting iPoop!
Posted 9/24/2018 5:39 PM (GMT 0)
always enjoy reading articles about ways to possibly treat these diseases with "outside the box" methods. On my local news a few weeks ago, they have an interview with a doctor in England who completed a study with stem cell that he was really happy with. The program of his will require another 4 years of testing, but he thinks this will definitely give some valuable answers to long term treatment.

As a 25 year old, I'm hopeful that they can find a cure in my lifetime.
Posted 9/25/2018 12:36 AM (GMT 0)
I am intrigued -- I have insulin resistance (as a result of my PCOS, which they also think might actually be an AI disorder).
Posted 9/25/2018 12:51 PM (GMT 0)
I'm glad they're exploring novel pathways and ideas beyond just immune-suppression. If you put horse-blinds on researchers (only looking at immune suppression) then they could be ignoring other discover-able and possible keys to this whole IBD/UC puzzle.
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