Can removing the SHIP2 protein improve blood vessel repair in diabetes?

Targeting Shc homology 2-containing inositol 5´ phosphatase 2 to enhance vascular repair (Dr Peysh Patel)

Even with the best treatment, diabetes doubles the risk of life-threatening diseases, including heart attack and stroke, by damaging the lining of blood vessels. The body has some ability to repair this damage to blood vessels, but this is much less effective in people with diabetes. Adult onset diabetes usually develops when the body doesn’t respond enough to signals from the blood sugar lowering hormone insulin; diabetes also reduces the body’s ability to respond to other signals that are crucial in stimulating blood vessel repair. Dr Richard Cubbon and his team from the University of Leeds plan to carry out experiments that mimic human blood vessel disease in patients with diabetes. The aim is to test whether removing a protein involved in damping-down insulin signals (called SHIP2) can improve both blood vessel repair and diabetes. If successful, this would prompt scientists to develop new drugs which can block this protein and then test their benefit in people with diabetes.