The role of adiponectin in Type 2

Using human genetics to understand the role of adiponectin in Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.

• Professor Timothy Frayling of Peninsula Medical School
• £138,576; Three-year project grant

Background to project

Adiponectin is a hormone that is copiously produced by the body fat and which helps to regulate blood glucose levels. The exact role of the hormone in diabetes is uncertain, but studies in mice suggest that lower adiponectin levels are both a cause and a consequence of the body’s resistance to insulin.

Project aims

With support from Diabetes UK, researchers at Peninsula Medical School will carry out the largest human study of adiponectin in Type 2 diabetes, providing much needed advances in our understanding of the role of this hormone.

Researchers will draw on genetic and biochemical data obtained from 16 studies in Europe and the US that covers more than 36,000 individuals, including around 4,000 people with Type 2 diabetes. They will also recruit around 100 volunteers and ask them to donate a sample of fat from under their skin. This will help them to determine how genetic variation is linked to variations in adiponectin and whether lower levels of the hormone are linked to increased insulin resistance and an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Potential benefit to people with diabetes

This study will improve our understanding of the role of adiponectin in Type 2 diabetes. If it demonstrates that reduced adiponectin levels lead to greater insulin resistance, it could help to prioritise the development and testing of new drugs for increasing adiponectin levels and improving sensitivity to insulin in Type 2.