News & Research
Adams, Christopher M., MD/PhD
Hormonal signaling mechanisms controlling amino acid synthesis, uptake and use
Focus: Insulin Action Signal Transduction, Signal Transduction (Non-Insulin Action)-Transcriptional Regulation, Integrated Physiology-Amino Acid Metabolism
Type of Grant: Junior Faculty
Project Start Date: July 1, 2007
Project End Date: June 30, 2010
Research Description
The purpose of this proposal is to understand how insulin causes cells to make proteins. The preliminary studies described here show that insulin turns on a protein called ATF4, which then activates an set of >10 genes that are needed to make other proteins in the cell. This suggests that ATF4 is a critical switch that insulin uses to turn on protein synthesis. If this is true, then ATF4 plays an important role in uncontrolled diabetes, where insulin deficiency causes a loss of cellular protein, leading to wasting of tissues such as muscle. The proposed studies will determine how insulin turns on ATF4 and how this affects protein synthesis and cell growth. They will also test whether ATF4 might block the development of muscle wasting. If it does, then ATF4 would be an attractive target for medicines that could prevent muscle wasting, not only in uncontrolled diabetes, but also in acute illnesses such as sepsis and burns, and in chronic illnesses such as renal failure, cancer, tuberculosis and AIDS.Reseacher Profile
What area of diabetes research does your project cover? What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes?
We are studying how insulin affects cellular metabolism, and specifically, how insulin causes cells to make proteins. In uncontrolled diabetes, lack of insulin causes protein synthesis to decline, leading to weight loss and muscle wasting. This effect of diabetes is called catabolism.
What we find will help us understand the catabolism that occurs with diabetes, and may help us prevent or treat it. If a person with diabetes were to ask you how your project will help them in the future, how would you respond? Our research is designed to help understand why diabetes causes weight loss and muscle wasting. It may lead to new medicines that help people with diabetes gain muscle mass.
Why is it important for you, personally, to become involved in diabetes research? What role will this award play in your research efforts? I am an endocrinologist and primarily treat patients with diabetes. The ultimate goal of my research is to improve care for my patients.
In what direction do you see the future of diabetes research going? I think that as we develop a better understanding of how insulin controls metabolism, we will be able to find or design medicines to cure diabetes.
