Work

Screening for insulin-independent pathways that modulate glucose homeostasis identifies androgen receptor antagonists

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: Pathways modulating glucose homeostasis independently of insulin would open new avenues to combat insulin resistance and diabetes. Here, we report the establishment, characterization and employment of a vertebrate ‘insulin-free’ model to identify insulin-independent modulators of glucose metabolism. insulin knockout zebrafish recapitulate core characteristics of diabetes and survive only up to larval stages. Utilizing a highly efficient endoderm transplant technique, we generated viable chimeric adults that provide the large numbers of insulin mutant larvae required for our screening platform. Using glucose as a disease-relevant readout, we screened 2233 molecules and identified 3 that consistently reduced glucose levels in insulin mutants. Most significantly, we uncovered an insulin-independent beneficial role for androgen receptor antagonism in hyperglycemia, mostly by reducing fasting glucose levels. Our study proposes therapeutic roles for androgen signaling in diabetes and, more broadly, offers a novel in vivo model for rapid screening and decoupling of insulin-dependent and -independent mechanisms.

Source: eLife

DOI: 10.7554/elife.42209