High altitudes could compel red blood cells to act as ‘glucose sponges’, helping to keep blood sugar levels in check, a new study has found. The team hope the discovery will lead to new therapies to manage diabetes, and has already developed a medication capable of reproducing the effect in mice.
Scientists have long known that diabetes rates are lower among people who live at higher altitudes, where oxygen is low. In the US, people living 1,500m (4,920ft) above sea level are 12 per cent less likely to have diabetes than those living at altitudes below 500m (1,640ft).
Exactly what causes this relationship has been something of a mystery. But a new study, published in Cell Metabolism, could have the answer – red blood cells, which our bodies produce more of when oxygen levels are low.
The researchers tested the theory on mice, placing them in a low-oxygen environment to reduce their blood-oxygen levels – a state known as hypoxia. The scientists then traced where the glucose in their blood went, discovering it was being soaked up by the oxygen-deprived red blood cells.
The red blood cells then converted the glucose into a molecule that causes them to give up their oxygen more easily.
“This ensures that red blood cells can efficiently release what little oxygen they carry into our tissues, helping us survive hypoxia,” Dr Yolanda Martí-Mateos, the postdoctoral scholar from Gladstone Institutes who led the study, told BBC Science Focus.
According to Martí-Mateos, “red blood cells born in hypoxia are special, as they possess more glucose transporters than regular blood cells.”
The team hopes the discovery will serve as a ‘proof of concept’ that will inspire new diabetes treatments.
“We're excited about a small molecule our lab developed called HypoxyStat, which mimics the effects of low oxygen without actually reducing the oxygen you breathe,” said senior author Dr Isha Jain, also from Gladstone Institute, to BBC Science Focus.
When they gave mice the drug, it completely reversed their high blood sugar levels and did so far more effectively than existing medications.
“There's a lot of work to do before any of this reaches patients, but the biology is genuinely encouraging,” said Jain.
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