Scientists have invented a wireless electronic device that removes excess sugar from the blood and could, one day, offer a drug-free treatment for diabetes and obesity.
The device, which was developed by a team of researchers in Switzerland and France, is paired with a continuous glucose monitor, and is automatically activated when blood glucose levels get too high.
It then triggers a reaction that converts the excess glucose into a product called gluconate, which gets cleared by the kidneys, and brings glucose levels back down to normal.
In a study published in October, the team tested the device by implanting it in mice with type 2 diabetes and obesity. Over the course of six weeks, the device not only lowered the mice’s high blood glucose levels, but also reduced their body weight by 10 per cent.
If the device can be successfully adapted for humans, the study authors say it could offer a "drug-free" alternative to medications used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity – conditions that frequently coexist and by 2050 are projected to afflict 1.27 billion and 1.95 billion people worldwide, respectively.
“Our device does something fundamentally different from conventional diabetes treatments [such as insulin and metformin],” said Prof Martin Fussenegger, professor of biotechnology and bioengineering at ETH Zurich and the University of Basel, who co-authored the study.
When there’s less glucose in the blood, the body turns to its fat reserves as a source of fuel. That’s why, Fussenegger explained, mice implanted with the device experienced weight loss, as their bodies increasingly burned through fat stores.
Dr Sufyan Hussain, a consultant diabetes physician at Guy's and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, said the study used a “novel and exciting approach” that “opens up exciting possibilities for managing both glucose and weight”.
But while the initial findings are “very promising”, he said, “carefully controlled human trials will be essential” before such a treatment could be used in people.
Fussenegger admits there are still many hurdles to overcome. “The biggest challenge will be demonstrating that we can safely and reliably remove sufficient glucose in the much larger and complex human metabolic system over extended periods,” he said.
“We would also need to understand the longer-term effects of producing and clearing gluconate, particularly on kidney function,” said Hussain.
Fussenegger added that people with impaired kidney function, for instance, may require special consideration since the device relies on the kidneys’ ability to remove gluconate from the body.
“Diabetes is a complex disease and such devices won’t be suitable for everyone,” he said.
But he and his team are determined to make these new technological treatments work for patients who can benefit from them.
“Our vision is a new generation of … intelligent implants [that] continuously monitor the body’s metabolic state and intervene only when necessary, without administering drugs.”
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