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Joslin study finds clue to birth defects in babies of mothers with diabetes
Date:10/16/2011

BOSTON -- October 17, 2011-- In a paper published today in Diabetologia, a team at Joslin Diabetes Center, headed by Mary R. Loeken, PhD, has identified the enzyme AMP kinase (AMPK) as key to the molecular mechanism that significantly increases the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida and some heart defects among babies born to women with diabetes.

Even if women with diabetes -- either type 1 or type 2 -- work vigilantly to control their blood sugar levels around the time of conception, the risk of a defect is still twice that of the general population. This finding could lead to strategies to interfere with the mechanism and reduce the chances of such birth defects occurring.

Previous studies published by Loeken's lab showed that maternal hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) causes oxidative stress in the embryo, and inhibits expression of the Pax3 gene. Pax3 is essential to the formation of the neural tube, which in the embryo is the precursor to the brain and spinal cord. Oxidative stress results when oxidized molecules - called free radicals - are created faster than they can be eliminated.

However, Loeken said, it was not known how the cells that express Pax3 could sense the oxidative stress and why oxidative stress, which occurs throughout the embryo, only damages selective structures such as the neural tube.

In the paper published today, Loeken's team identifies the key to the process as AMP kinase, which is activated by oxidative stress and was found to signal the cell nucleus to block the expression of Pax3.

"The stimulation of a metabolism-sensing enzyme that can regulate specific genes explains how oxidative stress, which is generated throughout the embryo during maternal hyperglycemia, causes malformation of specific embryo structures," Loeken said.

"We now know that we must do whatever we can to prevent AMPK from being stimulated," said Loeken, who is a research invest
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Contact: Jeffrey Bright
jeffrey.bright@joslin.harvard.edu
Joslin Diabetes Center
Source:Eurekalert  

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Joslin study finds clue to birth defects in babies of mothers with diabetes
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