Type 2 diabetes and protein

A fresh discovery by a team of researchers at the Weill Cornell Medical College has paved the way for a number of potential new drug targets to aid with the prevention and perhaps treatment of type 2 diabetes . Scientists at the college highlighted a key protein that influences the take up of glucose by cells.
The senior researcher on the study, Dr. Timothy McGraw, reportedly commented: “Glucose gets into muscle and fat cells assisted by a special transporter called GLUT4. In our study, when the protein (Rab10) was eliminated or its activity switched off, insulin was no longer able to properly trigger the recruitment of the GLUT4 glucose transporter to the surface of cells.”
McGraw reportedly concluded: “The recruitment of GLUT4 to the cell surface increases glucose movement from the blood into cells, where the glucose is stored for future use. Thus, Rab10 is involved in the insulin regulation of blood glucose levels. A disruption in the regulation of blood glucose levels, a condition called ‘insulin insensitivity,’ is a hallmark of type 2 diabetes, a disease that affects nearly 20 million Americans.”