National Health and Medical Research Council

Diabetes mellitus is an endocrine disorder in which the body cannot maintain normal glucose levels in the blood and cells. In 2004–05, an estimated 700,000 people (3.6% of Australians) had diagnosed diabetes. In 2005, diabetes was the underlying cause of death in 3,529 deaths (2.7%). As a chronic, debilitating condition, diabetes was the eighth leading cause of burden of disease and injury in 2003 alone, responsible for 5.5% of the total burden. Diabetes is a particular issue for Indigenous Australians, as they are three to four times more likely to develop diabetes than non-indigenous Australians. [1]

NHMRC funding for diabetes research

In the period 2004-09, NHMRC contributed $248.6 million to Australian research into diabetes.

Some NHMRC-funded research projects into diabetes

Diabetic kidney damage by free oxygen radicals

Chief Investigator Dr Josephine Forbes, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute

There is a critical need to identify new therapies for the growing number of patients with diabetic kidney disease. Current medicines only retard progressive disease. Our studies investigate defects in the power houses of the cell, the mitochondria. These defects cause generation of toxic free oxygen radicals which eventually starve the cell of energy production. Therefore, reversal of mitochondrial defects in diabetic kidney disease may be a novel therapeutic target.

NHMRC Project Grant

The role of low sun exposure in the onset of type 1 diabetes mellitus

Chief Investigator Professor Anne-Louise Ponsonby, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is becoming more common among Australian children. The project explores aspects of the modern child's environment that may increase the risk of type 1 diabetes. In particular it aims to assess whether very low sun exposure in early life is adverse. Low sun exposure may be adverse because sun exposure-derived vitamin D is vital for the developing child's immune system. We need to know what level of sunlight and vitamin D children need to prevent disease.

NHMRC Project Grant

Aldosterone and diabetic retinopathy

Chief Investigator Associate Professor Jennifer L Wilkinson-Berka, Monash University

The World Health Organization predicts that by 2030, more than 360 million people will have diabetes. Despite almost all patients developing retinopathy, current treatments do not prevent disease progression. One strategy being evaluated is blockade of a hormone called angiotensin II. We have new evidence that a related system called aldosterone exists in retina and contributes to damage. This project will determine if aldosterone blockade is a potential treatment for diabetic retinopathy.

NHMRC Project Grant

Clinical modulation of the rise in blood glucose levels associated with a 10-second sprint in type 1 diabetes

Chief Investigator Associate Professor Timothy W Jones, University of Western Australia
Although regular exercise provides a number of health benefits for individuals with Type 1 diabetes, it increases the risk of hypoglycaemia, which if severe can result in convulsion, coma and irreversible brain damages. Recently, we have made the surprising discovery that it is possible to prevent hypoglycaemia if exercise is combined with one or several short sprints. Our goal is to identify some of the clinical factors likely to interfere with the glucoregulatory benefits of sprinting.

NHMRC Project Grant

The contribution of IL-21 to autoimmune diabetes

Chief Investigator Dr Cecile M King, Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Interleukin-21 (IL-21) is a soluble protein that is produced by cells enabling them to communicate with other cells. IL-21 helps cells to clear viruses and bacteria from the body. However, our studies show that IL-21 also generates T cells that destroy beta cells and cause diabetes. IL-21 is produced at abnormally high levels in an important murine model of spontaneous type-1 diabetes (T1D) and if we block IL-21 we prevent diabetes. This projects' aims assess IL-21 as therapeutic target for T1D.

NHMRC Project Grant

Life! vs usual care in diabetes prevention: a critical evaluation

Chief Investigator Professor James A Dunbar, Deakin University

Type 2 diabetes is a great and growing epidemic, and Australia's largest public health challenge. Life! is a diabetes prevention program for 25,000 Victorians. This proposal will look at its efficacy, effectiveness and cost effectiveness so that more improvements can be made.

NHMRC Project Grant

Sources

1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2008. Diabetes: Australian facts 2008. Diabetes series no. 8. Cat. no. CVD 40. Canberra: AIHW.