Invited talk by Prof. C. Ronald Kahn, Harvard Medical School.
One of the world’s—if not the world’s—leader in insulin signaling.
Date: Wednesday April 18th
Time: 09:00
Place: Auditorium @ Armauer Hansens hus, Haukeland University Hospital
A recent study from Prof. Kahn has identified viruses that can produce insulin-like hormones that are active on human cells. This novel discovery brings new possibilities for revealing biological mechanisms that may cause diabetes, as well as autoimmune disease, metabolic conditions or cancer.
Viruses known to infect fish and amphibians, could possibly expose humans to viral insulins. Prof. Kahn and his colleagues at Joslin have found that various viruses can produce peptides that are similar in whole or in part to 16 human hormones and regulatory proteins. Four viruses interestingly have insulin-like sequences, and show ability to bind to and stimulate human insulin receptors and receptors for a closely related hormone called IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1). The viral peptides could this way potentially stimulate all signaling pathways inside the cells that are stimulated by human insulin and IGF-1, including glucose uptake and cellular Growth.