Czech scientists contribute to international research on insulin

Prague, Jan 11 (CTK) - Czech experts from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry have significantly contributed to the international research of the ways insulin reacts with its cell receptor, which is important for developing new medicines and improving diabetes treatment methods, Jiri Jiracek told CTK.

Jiracek, head of the Czech scientific team, said the Czechs cooperated on the project with laboratories in the USA, Britain and Australia. They supplied highla active modified insulins on the developing of which they had worked for a few years and that were necessary for the crucial crystallisation experiments in Australia.

"We helped create some supportive data, which is wonderful. The view of the way insulin is tied with the receptor will enable us to propose new efficient insulins that could help patients even better than natural insulin," Jiracek said.

He said the knowledge of mutual effects of insulin and its receptor on the cell surface is important for developing new medicines. For the whole past century scientists did not manage to clarify the process. Now the problem has been solved owing to crystallography, Jiracek said.

Diabetes is a chronic disease caused by a shortage of natural insulin, one of the most important hormones with a number of functions, in human organism. Some patients are confined to taking insulin.

The number of patients with diabetes is estimated to have reached 350 million in the world in 2011, including 825,000 in the 10.5-million Czech Republic.

The Australian team of Michael C. Lawrence, who has dealt with the issue since 1991 and prepared the receptor of insulin, has learnt about the Czech scientists' work in a foreign journal in which they published their results in 2010. He offered them cooperation two years ago.

By providing the Australians with highly active modified insulins, the Czechs contributed to the research's final success.