Project summary
Antidepressant drugs have been found to help lower blood sugar levels in people living with type 2 diabetes and depression. Dr Liu’s team want to explore whether the drugs can protect insulin-producing beta cells, and how they do this. In the future, this could help scientists to repurpose antidepressants to open the door to new ways to treat type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
Background to research
Antidepressants are drugs used to treat depression. Research has shown that some antidepressants can reduce blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes and depression.
And Dr Bo Liu discovered that one type of antidepressant, called Fluoxetine, increased the amount of insulin produced by beta cells. It also improved beta cell numbers and their chances of survival. But we don’t know how it does this or if other antidepressants could do the same.
Research aims
Dr Liu’s PhD student will research whether two other commonly prescribed antidepressants can also improve how beta cells work and how they manage blood sugar levels.
They will treat beta cells from mice or human organ donors with different amounts of antidepressants and measure how much insulin is produced by the beta cells. They’ll also measure if the drugs can help beta cell numbers to grow and track beta cell death by measuring DNA breakage inside the cells.
Next, they’ll examine if the antidepressants help to lower blood sugar levels in mice. Finally, they’ll unravel the molecular mechanisms that explain why the drugs can help beta cells.
Potential benefit to people with diabetes
Better understanding the effects of antidepressants on beta cell function and blood sugar levels could offer new solutions for treating people with diabetes or depression. The drugs could be used to help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in people at-risk, or to treat people with type 2 by enabling their beta cells to work better. And keeping beta cells working and alive could also lead to more successful islet transplants for people living with type 1.
