Photos of William Holland’s nieces adorn the laboratory where he works to understand type 2 diabetes.
“My goal is to keep my nieces from getting diabetic,” said Holland, a doctorate candidate in biochemistry.
Holland has worked closely over the past four years with Scott Summers, U associate professor of internal medicine-and son of a diabetic-on understanding type 2 diabetes and its onsets.
The two researchers set out to understand the role of ceramide (a type of fat in the body) by administering a compound that disturbs the production of it in mice and rats that are genetically predisposed to diabetes.
What they found in the predisposed animals that were administered the compound was groundbreaking-they did not develop symptoms of diabetes.
Summers is skeptical, however, about the effect their research will have on treating diabetes. He said it isn’t common to treat people with an increased risk of contracting the disease.
“Part of the problem is the fact that most doctors don’t treat pre-diabetics,” Summers said. “The other downside is that there is not a drug that would work in humans yet.”
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease, according to the American Diabetes Association.
While the disease can be treated, it can lead to other more serious issues such as heart disease, blindness and nerve and kidney damage.
Summers and Holland found in their study that ceramide fat causes an insulin resistance in the body, which is a factor in causing type 2 diabetes.
Maintaining ceramide at certain levels in the body is crucial, or else other metabolic factors are put at risk, Summers said.
While the origins of the ceramide fat buildup are unknown, it is commonly found to build up in the liver and muscles.
Summers and Holland said they are hopeful that they will be able to come up with a form of treatment in the future that could be used in humans, although commercial availability is years away.
“We hope to find drugs that are suitable to use in people without any harmful side effects,” Holland said.
The study they conducted was featured as a cover story for the March 6 edition of Cell Metabolism.
Josh LeeWilliam Holland, graduate student in biological chemistry, researches the correlation of saturated fat to ceramide, an insulin blocker, Monday at the radiology department.