'IMAX Movie of Body' Allows Stanford Geneticist To Stop Diabetes In Its Tracks

sciencehabit writes "Michael Snyder has taken 'know thyself' to the next level. Over a 14-month period, the molecular geneticist analyzed his blood 20 different times to pluck out a wide variety of biochemical data depicting the status of his body's immune system, metabolism, and gene activity. In yesterday's issue of Cell (abstract), Snyder and a team of 40 other researchers present the results of this extraordinarily detailed look at his body, which they call an integrative personal omics profile (iPOP) because it combines cutting-edge scientific fields such as genomics (study of one's DNA), metabolomics (study of metabolism), and proteomics (study of proteins). Instead of seeing a snapshot of the body taken during the typical visit to a doctor's office, iPOP effectively offers an IMAX movie, which in Snyder's case had the added drama of charting his response to two viral infections and the emergence of type 2 diabetes."

Comments

Eh, Type 2

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me know when they can stop, and reverse, Type 1.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[MobyDisk]

You know, Michael Snyder doesn't look like the extreme cheeseburger eating type. A Google search for him shows some full body shots. From the article, it sounds like they have evidence of a viral + genetic cause for type 2 diabetes.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[LWATCDR]

Ahh... No. And take a look at this persons picture http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/assets/2012/03/16/sn-snyder.jpg for proof.

Too bad that with all the resources available today we still can not cure the stupid commenter on Slashdot.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[Anonymous Coward]

Type 1 is an autoimmune disease (or at least that's the most widely held belief) where the body's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin producing cells of the pancreas. As a result, the body stops production of insulin and without the administration of external insulin (primarily via injection), you die (quickly).

To reverse the disease, two things are required. One, the body must be trained to not attack the the insulin producing cells. They've experimented with this for quite a while with anti-rejection drugs and similar things, and have had some moderate success. Once this is done, though, it's necessary to get the body to begin producing insulin again. There's some research that indicates the body may be capable of doing this spontaneously once step one is complete (at least in mice). Otherwise, an external source (transplant from a donor or cloning or stem cells or...) of these insulin producing cells will have to be added to the body.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[Anonymous Coward]

Type 1 is autoimmune diabetes, Type 2 is "everything else". That can be reduced insulin sensitivity, not producing enough insulin to support your body mass (which is why we equate fat=diabetic), and gestational diabetes where an increase in hormones prevents insulin from entering cells. The sources of the diseases are vastly different, but both result in increased blood sugar.

The test to determine if you are type 1 or type 2 specifically looks for the immune system antibody (Islet of Langerhan antibody) in your blood stream. The part that is unknown is what 'triggers' a T1 diabetic to start producing this antibody. This most frequently happens when people are young, which gave it the name 'Juvenile Diabetes', but it's largely inaccurate. I was diagnosed at 27.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[symbolset]

Cheeseburgers and Twinkies don't cause Type 2 Diabetes, they only reveal it. The tendency to lose regulation of insulin on diet is the illness, and it's congenital.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[I_am_Jack]

Transplant patients routinely get Type 2 as a result of immunosupression. While it's primarily a lifestyle disease, it, like Type 1, can also be an immune disorder.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[glorybe]

Apparently for type 2 diabetics the pancreas may be producing enough insulin but the cells throughout the body do not except that insulin very well. It may be an auto immune disorder similar to arthritis where the body either resists or fails to recognise its own insulin. That may be why starvation offers some relief. When the body is really hungry the uptake of insulin may increase.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[Anonymous Coward]

From reading into this a bit (hadn't known of it)... post transplanet diabetes doesn't seem to be immune as much as the medications used for immunosuppression screwing up the bodies tolerances/handling.

The immune system isn't causing it- the side effects of the meds are, basically.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[qwak23]

I'm sorry but carbs in general are not the enemy people make them out to be, nor is eliminating them from your diet a cure for type 2. There also are multiple factors that are linked as possible causes of type 2. In terms of type 2 caused by obesity (I have a family member dealing with this right now), the main goal is to increase exercise, improve diet and reduce weight. This does not require the elimination of carbs as a whole from the diet. Reducing or elimination of foods high in sugar content (especially soda) can greatly help, but there is no need to eliminate carbs sourced from grain. Additionally, there is the whole concept of thermodynamics in which consuming less than you use regardless of source will cause weight loss. Drinking soda is a good way to push your intake above your expenditure without even realizing it.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[Knutsi]

Causality is tricky, but not without answers. If avoiding cheeseburgers and twinkies causes you *not* to get T2D even if you are predisposed, I would say that both are causal factors and are right to blame. However, the *type* of environmental factor also plays in. If you feed a cat paracetamol, it will die. Does this simply "reveal" a underlying condition? Is the cat sick to start with? Feeding the cat the substance is what killed it, but the reason it died from it is biological and exposure to a substance it would not encounter in nature. If you happened uppon a cat that survived, THAT would be the oddity.

If you are born with relevant genes, you are, and need to look out. You carry one of many polymophisms in the gene pool, but you are not sick or nessearily abnormal. It just means that under a heavy diet with little exercise - an unnatural lifestyle - you might get sick faster than others. It's *multifactoral*, like most conditions we can get. If you are not very good at skydiving, you should not skydive even if everyone you know does. Cheeseburgers and sedentary lifestyle need to take the blame more than genetics.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[Knutsi]

Diabetics with type 2 first goes through a fase where insulin fails to control blood glucose levels (if you have allot of glucose in your blood, this is sensed by you pacreas and it secretes insulin - a stubstance that signal to the other cells of your body to start absorbing the glucose, and thus reduce how much is circulating). After enough time in this state, your pacreas gives up and stops producing insulin, much like in type 1. So it has two stages.

Autoimunity might be a hypothesis (does type 2 diabetes respond to immunosupressants? Do you have states where antibodies conversly increase uptake of glucose from the blood w/o insulin?), but I think the prevailing idea is that fat accumulation in muscle cells interferes with a signaling pathway that originates in cell membrane fats (the IP3/DAG pathway), making it less efficient. Think of it like wire that is loose and only occationally gets contact. The signal is supposed to convey the fact that insulin is present from the surface of the cell into the cell, where glucose transporter (GLUT4) is to be mobilized to the surface of the cell and start taking insulin out of ciculation and into the cell for storeage and burning. If the signaling pathway thus breaks, this manifests as less effect by insulin, and the body compencates with increased levels over time, and eventually burnout of the pacreas.

If accumulating fats are to blame, it might also explain why a negative energy balance (starvation) would help. Fat is the main energy store of the body, and it might get burned off, restoring normal insulin sensitivity.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[Knutsi]

Sorry if I offended you somehow or made my post seem redundant, that was never my intention /: I was trying to add to the discussion by saying that I think the overeating and lack of physical activity is more fair to see as the primary causes of type 2 diabetes rather than genetics, and that by blaming the genes we're ignoring the point that our bodies might not be build for our current way of life (: I would rather say that modern life has revealed that some people are not as well adapted as others to that lifestyle.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[Artifakt]

1. I'm a type 2 Diabetic.
2. I stand 6'1", and currently weigh 211 lbs. I have a 32" waist and can (and regularly do) bench press 295. I run 9 miles a week.
3. Despite this, I still use pills to control my condition. I still have to have quarterly exams. including several hundred dollars in tests each time.
4. I have better than average response to the meds, see fewer side effects than the average user, and unlike many diabetics, can get by on just a couple of generic drugs that don't cost me much. I have not had to change up to any of the more espensive drugs since I started. Less than a third of the type 2 diabetics under treatment can make that claim. .

So on behalf of all the type 2's who have cut their weight, exercised, and stopped eating sugary foods but still have a serious medical condition, I'd like to offer a hearty "Fuck you, you ignorant idiot!" (I don't usually stoop to such language, but it's obvious that nothing less could possible get through to somebody like you). Really, you are spitting in the faces of thens or hundreds of thousands of people you never met, who have successfully fought a battle I doubt seriously you could win, and you are revealing you are unfamiliar with both the facts about a serious disease and fundamental human decency. I'm torn between being furious with you and pitying you.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[Cute Fuzzy Bunny]

It'd be nice if people knew what they were talking about before they started moving their fingers...

Excess calories and inactivity cause weight gain and eventually type 2 in many people. You may most certainly fully reverse this by losing the weight you gained, eating smarter and exercising more.

Carbs? Other than having a world population that is so big that its dependent on grains, roots and whatnot to feed all these people, I'm not sure why we consume carbs that require processing to be edible.

Who I find funny are people who look at a macdonalds value meal and want to crucify the meat and cheese. Its the drink, fries and bun.

For quite some time we've been told by doctors to eat margarine and transfats instead of butter and lard. We were told eggs would kill us. We've been told to eat mostly grains, root vegetables and sugar laden fruits along with considerable amounts of dairy. For quite some time we were told that cigarettes were good for you. We even had special cigarettes for asthma sufferers. I wonder how that worked out.

As a result of all of these ridiculously serious missteps, we're all fat, have coronary problems and diabetes. 75 years ago before all of this dietary "improvement" these illnesses werent anywhere near as common.

Hasnt anyone noticed how we feed cattle? We let them eat grass and whatever else they can find along with some cheap feed thats even included parts of other cows. But when they're ready to butcher, we send them to a feedlot to gain weight and fat marbling. Eating what? Grains.

Diet-wise, we're doing almost everything backwards. Not buying it? Last year I was 50lbs overweight, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, not in particularly good condition. I stopped eating most carbohydrates (but I'm not militant about it), eating mostly pasture raised eggs and meat from a local farm. I raised my exercise level slightly (like 30 minutes of walking or using a wii fit for an hour). I've now lost 43 pounds, my blood pressure is actually a little low, and my blood sugar is so low I have to sip a little orange juice once in a while to stop feeling faint.

Besides eating good foods, look for the biggest nutritional and flavor punches. Lets get off the feedlot.

http://www.spacedoc.com/saturated_fat_is_good_for_you_1

http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller38.1.html

http://www.menshealth.com/health/saturated-fat

Re:Eh, Type 2

[ras]

It never goes away, once you have it.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodenum:

80% of obese people who had gastric bypass surgery (bypassing the duodenum) were cured of their type 2 diabetes

And from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodenal_switch:

Type 2 diabetics have had a 98% "cure" (i.e. became euglycemic) almost immediately following surgery which is due to the metabolic effect from the intestine switch. The results are so favorable that some surgeons in Europe are performing the "switch" or intestinal surgery on non-obese patients for the benefits of curing the diabetes.

Re:Eh, Type 2

[BigDogCH]

While I agree with your conclusions, and sympathize with you, you are clearly not the average type 2 diabetic. You must admit that. Most every study i have read, along with those I know who have had type 2, have shown far better results than yours simply by losing weight and exercising. Your condition is clearly more severe, and possibly from a different cause.

The vast majority of those with Type 2 could help their cause with a bit of self care. Kudos to you however for taking those steps first and going for the meds second. Everyone else just wants an excuse and a pill.

Misleading

[bgetter]

Really neat stuff until the part where the massive testing had nothing to do with his diabetes control. Oh, and I am sure the idea of more testing in a medical-cost-cutting world is going to go over really well.

Re:Misleading

[SplashMyBandit]

The interesting thing about Type 2 diabetes (the type you acquire) is that often simply but getting exercise as as great an effect on control as taking insulin injections. of course dietary changes are significant too (less sugar, in all its guises eg bread etc). Getting off the couch (and out of the basement) a lot more can actually do something for you!

Unfortunately the same doesn't help with Type 1 diabetes (the type you are born with) :( Hopefully one day someone will find a fix for that.

Re:Misleading

[thejynxed]

Except starting in 2014, if all goes well, it will be illegal for them to deny you coverage based on a pre-existing condition. There will also be no annual cap on your doctor visits, etc because they can no longer cap that, either.

AKA HMOs can't say, "Oh, you're only allowed 3 office visits per quarter, and if you go above such and such amount, we cut off you off for the rest of the year."

Re:Misleading

[fragMasterFlash]

It goes further than that, medical insurers will be required to spend 85% of revenues collected as premiums on the care of insured members. With a potential profit margin narrowed to 15% of revenue minus operating costs the US medical insurance industry will likely no longer be the darling of the investment community.

Re:Misleading

[Ethanol-fueled]

So you're some fit 6'2" tall stud who runs 2 miles daily, and then you collapse.

You wake up and find yourself in the hospital with a malignant growth in your brain. Or perhaps your equally healthy daughter had a freak aneurysm, or possibly pathogenic meningitis contracted from the filthy dorm she moved into* . Shit happens. That overweight inner-city welfare queen who miraculously never caught anything worse than a cold now has to underwrite your genetic weakness or stroke of bad luck.

Aw, shit, I've been trolled again. But that doesn't make my post any less true.

* True story

Re:Misleading

[bill_mcgonigle]

There's also nothing to prevent them from simply charging you more than you can afford for said coverage, either.

Right. My family doesn't have health insurance because of a pre-existing condition law. I had a package all set to go that I could afford with a rider for two conditions (each controlled by a $4 generic) but then they realized I was in NH so they couldn't do the rider and would have to charge me $550/mo more for the full coverage.

There's no magic $6600 in my budget, so we're uninsured. Senator Shaheen can kiss my uninsured ass.

Re:Misleading

[19thNervousBreakdown]

It's a good way for people to manage risk. It's a terrible way for a company trying to make the largest possible profit to manage risk. You know what? Some of my best friends are people. None of them are companies. Fuck companies, if they make a 0.01% profit, it's more than they "deserve". If those individuals that are part of the company want to make more money than any fifty people need for an entire lifetime, they're free to pursue some area of business where my friends don't die so they can have a yacht. The medical insurance industry turning off predators and attracting more altruistic people would be a fantastic thing.

Re:Misleading

[user32.ExitWindowsEx]

But if you cap profit margins as a fixed % how will they increase net profits?

Simple.

Charge more for the same service (or lack thereof).
It's basic math...15% of 20 billion is *DOUBLE* 15% of 10 billion.

They'll have to pass along more to doctors but they'll still get to tell Wall Street their profits went up (yet again).

Re:Misleading

[user32.ExitWindowsEx]

If you think the technology for chest xrays has been the same for 50-80 years you are so wrong.

Terrible Headline

[Lord of the Fries]

Slashdot headlines are getting pathetically lame. This kind of twisted deceptive word play is what I expect when I stand in line at the grocery store. Would it have been stooping so low to integrity to post

'IMAX Movie of Body' Allows Stanford Geneticist To See Type 2 Diabetes Progress Like Never Before

?

Re:Terrible Headline

[idbeholda]

Type 2 Diabetes CAUGHT CHEATING.

- Stanford Geneticist calls off engagement
- Secretly recorded "IMAX" tape released
- "Not on my watch, you don't!"

Really, though I think the headline would be a bit more eye catching since two viral infections were going on if instead it read "Type 2 Diabetes CAUGHT SAMPLING THE BUFFET".

Elsevier boycott

[Strange Attractor]

Cell is published by Elsevier which has been in the news recently because of a boycott. A search provides http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/02/academics-boycott-publisher-elsevier I support the boycott.

One of the next big things?

[Okian Warrior]

Constant monitoring could be the next big thing in medicine.

We currently diagnose based on discrete measurements compared with cutoffs - "averages" and numbers which are rounded to easily-remembered values. For example, Type-II diabetes is indicated when glucose is over 200mg/dl 2 hours after an oral glucose test. ...that seems like an awfully contrived number, simply because it's so easy to remember.

Instead of single point cutoff measurements, maybe we could get better diagnoses if we could see the change in values over time. Perhaps a more accurate diagnosis of diabetes would come from characterizing the slope of several months worth of glucose measurements.

With the rise of cheap microprocessors, I think there's a lot of opportunity for medical monitoring. Something like a wristwatch which records 10 types of measurements every hour. Of course I don't know how this could be done - perhaps spectroscopic measurements of reflected light through the skin, or terahertz wave reflections.

I've often wondered if it's possible to make a USB peripheral that records to a TI Chronos wristwatch for later display.

I bet there's lots of interesting features there just waiting to be discovered.

Re:A little late on this article...

[Anonymous Coward]

And yes, I know this comment will be subsequently down moderated for saying this. So be it.

Not really.

Whenever people on slashdot say their comment will be modded down for being unpopular opinion, it usually ends up being modded up due to the kneejerk reaction of people to not seem biased.

I know I'll be modded down for saying this, but it has to be said.

Enjoy your catch-22.

Not much critics in the article

[thrill12]

Interesting news article, but when I read at the end that he is creating his own startup (and the disclosure of the author), I get funny feelings about the research and read back in the article: no critics. There must be some critical information in the scientific publication, but this article reads like a readers digest. Such articles make people probably pull their wallets quicker I guess... [/rantmodeoff]

Stop with the IMAX

[bill_mcgonigle]

'IMAX Movie of Body' Allows Stanford Geneticist To See Type 2 Diabetes Progress Like Never Before

Stop with the IMAX. It's a stupid analogy (I know, not yours) and this is a tech site. Perhaps:

"Comprehensive time-series body data analysis sheds new light on Type 2 Diabetes Progression."

Next thing you know, they'll be changing the Big & Tall Section at the department store to the IMAX Clothing section. I wonder if attendance is down at real IMAX theatres since the brand's destruction.

The Boycott Works...Elsevier is Hurting

[Moridineas]

I work in the publishing industry for a small publisher.

I was at a convention several weeks ago and spoke with some people who worked for a subsidiary of Elsevier. As an aside, just like in other industries, the publishing industry conglomerates are GIANT. Beyond the science and medical journals that were involved in starting the boycott, Elsevier owns LexisNexis (synonymous with law databases and also a book publisher), Harcourt (fiction), Butterworth, and many more. They have gobbled up literally dozens of formerly independent publishers, and in general data and knowledge companies in all fields.

Anyway, the employees of this particular subsidiary said Elsevier was SEVERELY hurting because of the boycott. I was shocked... I had assumed the boycott would have minimal impact. These particular employees (again, not of Elsevier directly) were glad as they were fully aware of how expensive Elsevier journals are and how ridiculous Elsevier's links in to government are. One of them said basically that Elsevier had spent millions of dollars over the past 15 years to get exclusive rights to public domain research (link). Once they got it, the situation blew up and Elsevier backed off--waiting no doubt for people to forget.

This also goes to show how many of the individuals in a corporation can believe the "right" thing but that horrible leadership at the top is all that matters.

It's corporations like Elsevier that give ALL companies a bad name. I support the boycott.

Noah

[tepples]

And who was mother to Cain and Able's children?

For the first 1650-odd years in the Bible's continuity, there weren't yet enough lethal equivalents in the gene pool for inbreeding to be a problem. After this, there was a great population bottleneck as a side effect of a divine intervention to flood the Nephilim off the face of the planet, and human life span declined sharply.

Dr. Fuhrman on curing most Type II diabetes

[Paul Fernhout]

See also Dr. Fuhrman: http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/Diabetes.aspx
"The vast majority of my patients, who adopt my nutritional and exercise recommendation for diabetes, become thin and nonâ"diabetic. They are able to gradually discontinue their insulin and eventually other medications. They simply get well. I work with people who have diabetes who want to live a long and healthy life and enjoy the achievement and confidence that they have control this disease. The membership services offered here on this website, and the information in my book, Eat For Health, can get you started on this road to wellness. My hope is that the information below about diabetes will enable you to feel more confident that you or someone you care about can be motivated and work with me to recover their health."

Not Eyelets, but Islets

[waterbear]

"eyelet transplantation" (ie, from a healthy donor, into a Type 1 Diabetes sufferer)

For the sake of helping any searchers not miss a load of references through searching on "eyelets" ....

These are "islets", not "eyelets", i.e. "Islets of Langerhans" (named for the scientist who first described them), they are little islands of special tissue in the pancreas gland, and they contain the beta-cells that normally make insulin, and in Type-1 diabetes they fail after attack by autoimmune processes. Their transplantation has been both promising and problematic, and as the parent post noted, tissue rejection problems have been met by immunosuppression.

-wb-

I don't think dragging a lab around is practical.

[Colin Smith]

sure they are experimenting with small implantable devices but they are not real labs. The general purpose discrimination power of a modern medical lab is phenomenal, small implanted device, not so much.