BioCentury
ARTICLE | Cover Story

Unique pathway in diabetes

June 10, 2010 7:00 AM UTC

A North American team has identified a proinflammatory pathway involving eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A, a poorly understood translational initiation factor, as a potential player in diabetes.1 Senesco Technologies Inc., which collaborated on the study, has a pancreas-specific formulation of a eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A small interfering RNA in preclinical development for diabetes. Cytokine PharmaSciences Inc.has a Phase II-ready anti-inflammatory compound that may also block the pathway.

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (EIF5A) is "somewhat enigmatic, in that we haven't understood what its normal role is," said Raghavendra Mirmira, professor of pediatrics and medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He is the corresponding author on the paper in The Journal of Clinical Investigation that describes the findings...