Grant: Team Grant: UK-Canada Diabetes Research Team Grants

Diabetes affects 3.0 Million Canadians. Globally 8.8% of the population is affected by this disease and this number is rising due to an aging population and increasing obesity. In Canada, the cost of treating new cases of diabetes diagnosed from 2012-22 is estimated at $15.4 Billion, while in the UK 10% of the NHS budget is spent on treating diabetes and complications associated with it, such as kidney disease, blindness, heart attacks, and stroke. These complications are often caused by changes in the blood vessels, therefore, strategies which protect or repair blood vessels may provide new treatments for diabetic patients. Laboratory studies on mice and cells have identified several molecules that can protect blood vessels, but moving these findings from laboratories to humans has been difficult. Dr. Penninger has recently developed a novel method to create artificial human blood vessels from human stem cells. When exposed to diabetic conditions in the laboratory or in mice, these blood vessels show the same changes and features as seen in the blood vessels of diabetic patients. These artificial blood vessels allow scientists to examine promising laboratory findings in a human-like environment before conducting clinical trials with human patients. In this project Dr. Penninger will work with a team of U.K-based scientists, Drs. David Long, Luigi Gnudi, and Karen Price to assess the potential of two previously identified molecules angiopoietin-2 and apelin to reverse changes caused by high blood sugar levels in these artificial human blood vessels. Additionally, the team will examine why some diabetic patients do not develop blood vessel related complications, using blood samples from diabetic patients with or without albumin protein in their urine. Excessive albumin in the urine of a diabetic patient is an indication of diabetic kidney disease. Their findings will ultimately lead to the discovery of new treatments for blood vessel complications in diabetes.