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BOSTON – A new era for endocrinology could emerge based in part on the recent discovery of viral sequences that align with human peptide hormones, C. Ronald Kahn, MD, said in a plenary presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.
Using a bioinformatics approach, including four very strongly aligned viral insulin/insulinlike growth factor–I peptides, or VILPs.
They also observed increased glucose uptake and activation of cell proliferation associated with VILPs, along with significantly lowered blood glucose when they were injected into mice.
Together, those results help define VILPs as the first viral hormones to be characterized, according to Dr. Kahn, head of the section on integrative physiology and metabolism at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
“We think that this is the tip of an iceberg, and could be the beginning of a new generation for endocrinologists – that of viral-hormone endocrinology,” Dr. Kahn said in his plenary presentation.
The positive outcomes seen in rodent and human cells suggest a potential role for using VILPs to treat human disease, according to Dr. Kahn.
Dr. Kahn credited Emrah Altindis, PhD, an instructor in medicine at Harvard and a research associate at Joslin, for finding the four VILPs, each encoded by a different member of the Iridoviridae family of viruses.
Iridoviridae are not known to infect humans, but they do infect fish, insects, and amphibians. In fact, iridovirus infection is the most common viral disease in saltwater fish, according to Dr. Kahn.
“What’s interesting, of course, is that we eat fish, and we can potentially eat fish that are contaminated with these viruses,” Dr. Kahn said in his presentation.
“So, could these VILPs play a role in human disease? This is really an important area of challenge,” he added.
There are many possibilities that need to be researched. If the viruses can infect human cells, then maybe they could mimic insulin signaling and cause hypoglycemia, or on the other hand, maybe they could act as competitive antagonists and impair insulin signaling, Dr. Kahn said.
The four VILPs found to date represent the tip of a potential iceberg because only about 2% of viruses have been sequenced. That means there could be 50 times as many other viral hormones out there that could influence human health and disease, Dr. Kahn said in his presentation.
Dr. Kahn reported disclosures related to CohBar, ERX Therapeutics, Kaleido Biosciences, and Merck.
BOSTON – A new era for endocrinology could emerge based in part on the recent discovery of viral sequences that align with human peptide hormones, C. Ronald Kahn, MD, said in a plenary presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.
Using a bioinformatics approach, including four very strongly aligned viral insulin/insulinlike growth factor–I peptides, or VILPs.
They also observed increased glucose uptake and activation of cell proliferation associated with VILPs, along with significantly lowered blood glucose when they were injected into mice.
Together, those results help define VILPs as the first viral hormones to be characterized, according to Dr. Kahn, head of the section on integrative physiology and metabolism at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
“We think that this is the tip of an iceberg, and could be the beginning of a new generation for endocrinologists – that of viral-hormone endocrinology,” Dr. Kahn said in his plenary presentation.
The positive outcomes seen in rodent and human cells suggest a potential role for using VILPs to treat human disease, according to Dr. Kahn.
Dr. Kahn credited Emrah Altindis, PhD, an instructor in medicine at Harvard and a research associate at Joslin, for finding the four VILPs, each encoded by a different member of the Iridoviridae family of viruses.
Iridoviridae are not known to infect humans, but they do infect fish, insects, and amphibians. In fact, iridovirus infection is the most common viral disease in saltwater fish, according to Dr. Kahn.
“What’s interesting, of course, is that we eat fish, and we can potentially eat fish that are contaminated with these viruses,” Dr. Kahn said in his presentation.
“So, could these VILPs play a role in human disease? This is really an important area of challenge,” he added.
There are many possibilities that need to be researched. If the viruses can infect human cells, then maybe they could mimic insulin signaling and cause hypoglycemia, or on the other hand, maybe they could act as competitive antagonists and impair insulin signaling, Dr. Kahn said.
The four VILPs found to date represent the tip of a potential iceberg because only about 2% of viruses have been sequenced. That means there could be 50 times as many other viral hormones out there that could influence human health and disease, Dr. Kahn said in his presentation.
Dr. Kahn reported disclosures related to CohBar, ERX Therapeutics, Kaleido Biosciences, and Merck.
BOSTON – A new era for endocrinology could emerge based in part on the recent discovery of viral sequences that align with human peptide hormones, C. Ronald Kahn, MD, said in a plenary presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.
Using a bioinformatics approach, including four very strongly aligned viral insulin/insulinlike growth factor–I peptides, or VILPs.
They also observed increased glucose uptake and activation of cell proliferation associated with VILPs, along with significantly lowered blood glucose when they were injected into mice.
Together, those results help define VILPs as the first viral hormones to be characterized, according to Dr. Kahn, head of the section on integrative physiology and metabolism at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
“We think that this is the tip of an iceberg, and could be the beginning of a new generation for endocrinologists – that of viral-hormone endocrinology,” Dr. Kahn said in his plenary presentation.
The positive outcomes seen in rodent and human cells suggest a potential role for using VILPs to treat human disease, according to Dr. Kahn.
Dr. Kahn credited Emrah Altindis, PhD, an instructor in medicine at Harvard and a research associate at Joslin, for finding the four VILPs, each encoded by a different member of the Iridoviridae family of viruses.
Iridoviridae are not known to infect humans, but they do infect fish, insects, and amphibians. In fact, iridovirus infection is the most common viral disease in saltwater fish, according to Dr. Kahn.
“What’s interesting, of course, is that we eat fish, and we can potentially eat fish that are contaminated with these viruses,” Dr. Kahn said in his presentation.
“So, could these VILPs play a role in human disease? This is really an important area of challenge,” he added.
There are many possibilities that need to be researched. If the viruses can infect human cells, then maybe they could mimic insulin signaling and cause hypoglycemia, or on the other hand, maybe they could act as competitive antagonists and impair insulin signaling, Dr. Kahn said.
The four VILPs found to date represent the tip of a potential iceberg because only about 2% of viruses have been sequenced. That means there could be 50 times as many other viral hormones out there that could influence human health and disease, Dr. Kahn said in his presentation.
Dr. Kahn reported disclosures related to CohBar, ERX Therapeutics, Kaleido Biosciences, and Merck.
EXPERT ANALYSIS FROM AACE 2018