A study on mice has shown that the protein calceneurin regulates 10 genes that are associated with diabetes. The Nature Study conducted by a team at Stanford University makes possible the creation of new treatments.

In diabetes, the beta cells in your body produce too little insulin (sometimes none at all), and this prevents cells from absorbing needed sugar. The sugar accumulates in the blood and damages your blood vessels, your kidneys, and even your eyes.

Here's the clincher which made the team feel their study was important: immune-suppressing drugs, like those taken by people who are about to go through major operations, greatly increase the risk of diabetes. The team found out that the drugs cause a stranglehold on the protein.

This is what the team did. The researchers bred mice that produce calcineurin in the pancreas only until the mice were born. After birth the pancreas in each mouse stopped producing the protein. By 12 weeks, the mice which were born with a normal number of beta cells, were diabetic. Why? Well, cutting the calcineurin supply prevented the beta cells from increasing in number as the mice grew. The more body mass you have the more beta cells you need. Apparently, "not enough beta cells" equals diabetes.

Researchers hope that production of drugs that enhance the activity of calcineurin could develop a new form of treatment for Type II diabetes. I wonder if the mice weren't really being experimented on, and if they were just probably trying to tell us something (sorry, a little Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy humor there).