JDRF funded researchers found that the cells that normally act like the body's "repair men" to fix damaged blood vessels become too rigid to move in people with diabetes. A simple laboratory procedure might be able to undo the damage.
Having diabetes raises your risk of developing other problems, from heart disease to stroke, kidney failure, nerve disease and eye damage that can lead to blindness. Many of these diabetes complications develop after fatty deposits have built up in the arteries, or tiny blood vessels, in the eye or kidney have been damaged. Many scientists have been working to find out what happens in the body that causes these problems for people with diabetes.
An important discovery has been made about why this happens by Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation funded researchers at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville. They found that the cells that normally act like the body's "repair men" to fix damaged blood vessels become too rigid to move in people with diabetes. These cells, called EPCs, simply fail to "report to duty." Just as important, the research team found that a simple laboratory procedure might be able to undo the damage. The results of the study were published earlier this year in the scientific journal, Diabetes.
WHY REPAIR CELLS STIFFEN
EPCs are made in the bone marrow and circulate in the body to sites where blood vessels need mending. The Florida researchers, led by Mark Segal, Ph.D., studied EPCs from people with diabetes and chronic kidney disease and saw that they were rigid and unable to move about normally. What was causing this serious defect? The research team found that the problem involves nitric oxide. Nitric oxide helps the repair cells move to wherever in the body they are needed to do their job. It also opens blood vessels and improves the uptake of oxygen. People with diabetes, however, commonly have low levels of nitric oxide. As a result, the basic structure of the repair cells is affected. The good news is that by adding nitric oxide to the cells, the researchers were able to change the damaged structure, so that the cells became much less rigid. This allowed them to move to the parts of the body where they were needed.
SOLUTIONS ON THE HORIZON
Segal said that many drugs already on the market have been shown to improve nitric oxide levels in these cells. This suggests that medications could work to keep EPCs mobile and able to perform repairs. As a result, blood vessels will heal more quickly and fatty deposits will be not be able to form. The result would be fewer problems from diabetes. Another method that may be possible in the future is to remove repair cells from someone with diabetes, treat the cells with nitric oxide outside the body and then return them to the person, where the cells could do their job capably. These findings could help many people living with diabetes by preventing or treating a number of diabetes complications.
