Researchers in the Molecular Medicine, and Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Programmes at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), together with scientists with the Combinatorial Chemistry Platform of the Barcelona Science Park (Parc Científic de Barcelona, PCB) and Genmedica Therapeutics, have identified a new set of compounds that show potent anti-diabetic properties that might provide a treatment for diabetes. The biotech company Genmedica Therapeutics will carry out the subsequent stages of the study on these new compounds.

The director of the PCB and principal investigator of the Combinatorial Chemistry Group at IRB Barcelona, Fernando Albericio, explains: “it is an excellent example of new synergies that are developed in the PCB. Two research groups belonging to distinct disciplines, collaborating with a Technology Platform, have produced a set of compounds with potential therapeutic properties. The patent for these compounds has been rapidly transferred to a technology-based enterprise in order to continue the cycle through which research results are transferred back to society through improvements in quality of life”.

In an article published recently in Diabetes –the journal with the highest impact in this field -, these researchers demonstrate that administration of these new molecules, either by subcutaneous injection or orally, to hyperglycaemic rats (high concentrations of glucose in blood) decreases the level of this polysaccharide to concentrations close to those shown by non-diabetic animals. Antonio Zorzano, head of the Molecular Medicine Programme at IRB Barcelona explains that “the most important finding has been the observation that these compounds exert a potent anti-diabetic effect in diabetic rats that produce almost no insulin. This opens up the possibility to develop a pill for the treatment of type I diabetes”. Affecting 10% of the population, diabetes type I is characterised by the incapacity of the body to produce insulin (the hormone made in the pancreas that regulates blood sugar levels), and to date can be treated only with injections of this hormone.

The director of the PCB and principal investigator of the Combinatorial Chemistry Group at IRB Barcelona, Fernando Albericio, has worked alongside Miriam Royo, manager of the PCB’s Combinatorial Chemistry Platform, to design and synthesise the compounds, which are a new class of arylalqylamine vanadium salts. “The presence of amine and vanadate in the same chemical entity has allowed us to slightly decrease the concentration of the latter, thereby reaching very low levels. These characteristics make these compounds of interest as potential drugs”, comments Miriam Royo.

These compounds may also be of use for the treatment of several monogenic diseases, such as type A insulin resistance syndrome, for which no treatment is currently available. This kind of disease is characterised by failure of cell insulin receptors. By examining the signalling pathways, these researchers have shown that the compounds activate the cell process. “This finding allows us to hypothesise that these compounds act as bypasses when the cell mechanisms that trigger insulin receptors fail”, explains Zorzano.