[Scrabblechick]

Those researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have posted the results of an interesting study for those of us who are fiercely insulin resistant.

Their research indicated two genes that appear to play a role in IR.

" 'These genes in the NR4A family help sensitize muscle to insulin, promoting glucose uptake and thus keeping glucose levels within healthy limits,' says study author and UAB Department of Nutrition Sciences Chair W. Timothy Garvey, MD.
"Garvey... found that NR4A1 and NR4A3 genes are underexpressed in... humans with diabetes, and increasing their expression sensitizes skeletal muscle cells to insulin in the bloodstream...
" 'These orphan nuclear receptors... appear to be a perfect target for drugs or small molecules that can activate them to predictably increase insulin sensitivity and forestall or control diabetes,' he says."

This from the Spring 2008 issue of UAB Insight, as published by the UAB Health System, Birmingham, Alabama. UAB also features a Comprehensive Diabetes Center, a federally funded Diabetes Research and Training Center and a Comprehensive Diabetes Clinic.

These guys and gals at UAB are at the forefront of a lot of seriously promising medical research. I pounced on this article this a.m., since we get it here at the paper.

Could be the basis for more effective drugs on the horizon.