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Grant recipient

Anna Blom

Novel Intracellular Splice Variants of CD59 Control Insulin Secretion
Grant amount: DKK 10.000.000
Anna Blom says: “Type 2 diabetes is an increasingly common disease in which there is both resistance to insulin action in tissues and, in later stages of the disease, diminished insulin production from pancreatic beta cells. Lack of insulin causes high levels of glucose in the blood, which is damaging for many tissues, resulting in cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, neuropathy and retinopathy. Therefore, we need to understand the basic processes of how pancreatic beta cells secrete insulin. This is crucial for developing novel therapies for diabetes and its complications. We have unexpectedly found that CD59, a protein that is present on the surface of beta cells, where it protects them from attack by the immune system, is also found inside the cells, where it regulates insulin secretion by interacting with proteins known to be important in allowing insulin release. Now, in this project, we want to study in detail these novel, intracellular forms of CD59 and the exact mechanism by which these stimulate insulin secretion.”
Anna Blom
Anna Blom, Professor
Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Sweden