Control of glycaemia: from molecules to men. Minkowski Lecture 2003.

Regulation of glycaemia represents a fundamental biological principle, and its failure underlies Type 2 diabetes. The complex aetiology of Type 2 diabetes, which probably involves a medley of molecular mechanisms, requires dissection out of diabetes-associated subphenotypes, such as the non-obese with increased liver fat or the obese with low plasma adiponectin. The concepts of the hyperbolic relationship of insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity with glucose allostasis help us to establish the pathophysiological framework within which such mechanisms must operate. The translation of burgeoning new basic science findings into a physiological and clinical context calls for novel and imaginative clinical experimental tools. For the purpose of this review, four molecules (adiponectin [APM1], stearoyl CoA desaturase-1 [SCD1], insulin receptor substrate-1 [IRS1], peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma [PPARG]), each with a plausible role in the disease process, have been selected to illustrate the use of such techniques in humans. These include procedures as diverse as isotope dilution for turnover studies (e.g. glycerol turnover as a proxy for lipolysis), conventional and modified clamp procedures, association studies of functionally relevant single nucleotide polymorphisms in candidate genes (e.g. IRS-1 and PPAR gamma), multivariate correlational analyses (as with plasma adiponectin), magnetic resonance spectroscopy to quantify intra-tissue lipid deposition and regional fat distribution, and gas chromatography to determine fatty acid patterns in selected lipid fractions as proxy for intrahepatic enzyme activity. A concerted effort by scientists from many disciplines (genetics and cell biology, physiology and epidemiology) will be required to bridge the growing gap between basic scientific concepts of biological modifiers of glycaemia and concepts that are truly relevant for human Type 2 diabetes.