Yale University researchers have developed an experimental pill that reversed Type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease in rats, and may hold promise for people, too.
The Yale study, published in the journal Science, opens the door to a new way to treat the root cause of diabetes — as well as the related conditions known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
"Given these promising results in animal models of NAFLD/NASH and Type 2 diabetes we are pursuing additional preclinical safety studies to take this … approach to the clinic," said lead researcher Gerald I. Shulman, M.D., a professor of medicine and physiology at Yale School of Medicine.
Dr. Shulman’s research determined that an agent originally been used for weight loss more than 70 years ago — mitochondrial protonophore 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) — could be reformulated as an oral pill to treat rats.
The researchers discovered that DNP effectively reversed fatty liver, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia in rats with NAFLD and diabetes, as well as liver inflammation and liver fibrosis in rodents with NASH.
What’s more, the pill — given once daily — had no adverse effects, the researchers said.
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