Molecular regulation of GLUT4 targeting

Funded Activity Summary

Insulin resistance (the inability of ordinarily insulin-sensitive tissues such as muscle and adipose tissue to respond to insulin) contributes to a number of diseases including diabetes and obesity. A key metabolic step in these tissues is the uptake of glucose from the blood stream. This step is accelerated by insulin thus allowing efficient clearance of glucose from the bloodstream after a meal. Our laboratory has played a major role in showing that insulin regulates glucose uptake into muscle and adipose tissue by stimulating the movement of a glucose transport protein from inside the cell to the cell surface (see http:--www.imb.uq.edu.au-groups-james-glut4 for an animated description of this process). The purpose of this proposal is to dissect the molecular mechanisms by which this glucose transporter can be held inside the cell in the absence of insulin and then allowed to be released from this site moving to the surface in the presence of insulin. Our studies over the past 5 years have brought us much closer to understanding this process in detail. The identification of the molecules responsible for this regulatory step will not only aid our understanding of this process but it will also provide a valuable target for development of therapeutic agents that can be used to combat insulin resistance.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2002

End Date: 01-01-2004

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $468,300.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Protein Targeting And Signal Transduction

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Type 2 diabetes | cell biology | glucose transport | insulin resistance | membrane fusion | obesity | protein trafficking | vesicle trafficking

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