Possible New Non-Insulin Treatment Found For Type 1 Diabetes: While Type 2 diabetes is more common, many patients find themselves becoming diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Through-out many years, Type 2 diabetic patients have been placed on a strict diet and exercise regime while patients with Type 1 diabetes are often treated with insulin injections. In fact, Type 1 diabetes affects more than 1 million people within the U.S. who have to take multiple injections of insulin to metabolize their blood sugar.

Now, thanks to the researchers as UT Southwestern Medical Center, a hormone pathway has been discovered that could be the gateway toward treating Type 1 diabetes without insulin.

Fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) was found with insulin-like features but does not cause an excess of glucose that turns to fat. This means that this FGF19 could help treat patients with Type 1 diabetes and it could help patients who are suffering from obesity.

“The fundamental discovery is that there is a pathway that exists that is required for the body, after a meal, to store glucose in the liver and drive protein synthesis. That pathway is independent of insulin,” said Dr. David Mangelsdorf, Chairman of Pharmacology at UT Southwestern.

Both Dr. Mangelsdorf and Dr. Kliewer, a professor of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology at UT Southwestern are co-senior authors of this study. Dr. Kliewer himself has been researching FGF19 since he discovered its connection with metabolism eight years ago.

The hormone fibroblast growth factors works by controlling nutrient metabolism. These factors are released when bile acid appears in the small intestine. These bile acids are produced by the liver, which are then broken down into fats in the body.

“FGF19 does not make fat, and that’s one of the effects that separates it from insulin. Insulin also does not really have a dramatic effect on bile acid synthesis. So, the two pathways are different even though they both function in glycogen and protein synthesis,” said Dr. Mangelsdorf, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the medical center.

While using mice, the two researchers tried to manipulate FGF19 as an alternative to insulin therapy, but some pretty grave side effects occurred. First, this mice’s liver grew in size before developing cancer. Another promising diabetes treatment did appear however. This treatment involves the nuclear acid receptor FXR. Modulators of FXR have been shown to lower cholesterol and triglycerides in preclinical models.