BLINDNESS, kidney failure and nerve damage caused by diabetes can be traced
to a single mechanism in cells, say researchers in New York. If drugs could be
found that target this mechanism, they say, these complications could be stopped
in their tracks.
Diabetes leads to hyperglycaemia—excess glucose in the blood. This
damages nerves and the lining of blood vessels. When this happens in the retina,
for instance, it can cause blindness. Scientists already know of four major
biochemical pathways that give rise to this damage. “But there was nothing
connecting them,” says Michael Brownlee of the Albert Einstein College…
