Blocking two stress proteins saved insulin-making cells in human tissue — a new route against diabetes

In diabetes, the pancreas's beta cells — the factories that make insulin — are worked to exhaustion, and some die. Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have traced one death pathway in detail: when a protective protein is missing, the cells' stress response goes into overdrive, and a chain of proteins (IRE1α switching on JNK, which switches on p53) pushes them to self-destruct. Blocking JNK or p53 significantly reduced beta-cell death in two mouse models — and, crucially, the same protection worked in donated human pancreatic cells, the team reports in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. A safe drug version is still to be built, but the target is now named. 'Preserving beta cell mass is a really important goal,' says senior author Dr Laura Alonso.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation