Professor Darren Williams's research team develops a treatment to alleviate symptoms of diabetes
GIST Professor Darren Williams's research is published in Scientific Reports
Professor Darren Williams and Research Professor Da-Woon Jung of the School of Life Sciences at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST • President Seung Hyeon Moon) have developed a novel ENOblock treatment as a potential diabetic drug candidate that has shown greater benefits than rosiglitazone, which is a well-known anti-diabetic drug, in reducing symptoms of type 2 diabetes, such as lipid homeostasis, fibrosis, inflammatory markers, nephrotoxicity, and cardiac hypertrophy.
In experiments using a mammalian mouse model of type 2 diabetes mellitus, ENOblock, which is a novel enolase modulating compound that was developed as a probe to study the non-glycolytic functions of enolase, inhibited hyperglycemia, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and fibrosis of the heart, kidney, and liver. In adipose tissue, adipocytes decreased in size.
US and European patents for ENOblock have been registered (Principal Investigator: Darren Williams) for the treatment of diabetes.
Professor Darren Williams said, "As diabetes progresses, complications associated with diabetes damage various tissues and organs, including vascular tissues, nerves, and kidneys, which can shorten a person's lifespan. ENOblock is expected to be a new drug candidate for diabetes, which is effective in suppressing diabetic complications, as it improves hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia, which are symptoms of diabetes, and as it reduces cell death, inflammation, and fibrosis."
The research was supported by the following grants: (1) Basic Science Research Program through the NRF funded by the Korean government, MSI and NRF, and (2) Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the NRF funded by the Korean government, MSIP, and by the GIST Research Institute (GRI).
