Frontiers in Biomedicine: Pr Patrik Rorsman

20.02.2025 12:30 – 13:30

«The glucagon-secreting alpha-cell: from the clinic to the laboratory bench and back to bedside»

The plasma glucose concentration is maintained by a continuous tug of war between the actions of insulin (lowering) and glucagon (increasing) that are secreted by the beta- and alpha-cells of the pancreatic islets, respectively. Diabetes is caused by a lack of insulin, the impact of which is exacerbated by defects of glucagon secretion. Diabetes research has traditionally had a “beta-centric” perspective but recently there has been renewed interest in glucagon and the alpha-cells and diabetes is now often referred to as a “bihormonal disorder”. In his lecture, Pr Rorsman will discuss the complex crosstalk between the islet cells in the healthy state and how it becomes disrupted in diabetes. In particular, he will consider the failure the alpha-cells to release enough glucagon at low glucose, which leads to an increased risk of the blood glucose concentration falling to dangerously low (even fatal) levels; some estimates suggest that this is the cause of 10% of the deaths in insulin-treated patients. Pr Rorsman will describe data gleaned from studies on mouse models of diabetes as well as human islets from donors with diabetes. Finally, he will turn to the question of whether physiologically appropriate regulation of glucagon can be restored by repurposing of drugs already used in diabetes therapy.

Lieu

Bâtiment: CMU

Auditoire Müller

entrée libre

Fichiers joints

afficheA3_FIB_Rorsman.pdf

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