Cause of Type 2 diabetes discovered

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. study has determined inflammation -- and not obesity -- initiates insulin resistance that is the major cause of Type 2 diabetes.

University of California-San Diego School of Medicine researchers discovered inflammation provoked by immune cells called macrophages leads to insulin resistance. The scientists said that discovery might lead to new drug therapies to fight the disease, the most prevalent metabolic disease in the world.

It had been theorized that chronic, low-grade tissue inflammation related to obesity contributed to insulin resistance. The new research, conducted in mouse models, confirmed that, by disabling the macrophage inflammatory pathway, insulin resistance and the resultant Type 2 diabetes can be prevented.

The findings of the researchers -- led by Professors Michael Karin and Jerrold Olefsky -- appear in the journal Cell Metabolism.