Becker's Healthcare May 7, 2024
University of Pittsburgh researchers may have found a way to repurpose a cancer drug to treat diabetes.
The experiment, the results of which were published May 3 in Nature Communications, used a focal adhesion kinase-inhibiting drug that is being studied in cancer treatment. Researchers found that the drug converted acinar cells into insulin-producing cells and helped regulate blood glucose in diabetic mice and a single non-human primate.
In mouse trials, investigators partially or completely wiped out the animals’ beta cells with a drug that mimics diabetes. The mice were then treated with a three-week course of an oral FAK-ihibiting drug or placebo. The FAK-inhibitor mice gained about 30% of their original beta cell mass and the treatment...
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