Impotence drug boosts insulin in some with diabetes
Yohimbine could prove helpful in patients with a certain gene variant
A drug initially developed to treat erectile dysfunction helps a subset of people with type 2 diabetes. Called yohimbine, the drug is effective in people with a variant of a gene called ADRA2A, researchers report October 8 in Science Translational Medicine.
Such a treatment would provide a new therapeutic option to a substantial group of people. Approximately 40 percent of people with type 2 diabetes have a version of the ADRA2A gene that makes insulin-releasing cells in the pancreas more sensitive to the stress hormone adrenaline. When adrenaline binds to proteins on the cell surface called receptors, less insulin is secreted. People with the gene variant have more adrenaline receptors.