Stressed-out ER (top) may cause diabetes in overfed mice.

HOTAMISLIGIL/CLEARSCIENCE

The origin of adult-onset diabetes may be a counterproductive stress reaction in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), according to Umut Özcan, Gökhan Hotamisligil (Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA), and colleagues.

Type II or adult-onset diabetes has remained a mystery because the body seemingly acts against its own interests. As caloric intake and obesity rise, the body does not increase insulin responses to pack away the excess energy but instead becomes resistant to insulin's energy-storing signal. This just makes the situation worse. “You develop a little bit of obesity and then everything starts going crazy,” says Hotamisligil.

The Boston team now suggests that the body sees the stress of dealing with excess calories as analogous to an environmental or infectious stress, and responds appropriately. “Insulin is the most powerful signal opposing the mobilization of energy,”...

The Rockefeller University Press
2004
The Rockefeller University Press
2004
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