Diabetes researchers have long known about the connection between obesity and insulin resistance, but they have yet to identify the hormonal machinery responsible for that connection. In this Hot Paper, published 18 months ago, investigators appeared to have uncovered a major part of that machinery when they discovered the resistin hormone in mice.1 More recent findings, however, have cast doubt on resistin's relevance in human diabetes.
Senior author Mitchell Lazar, director of the University of Pennsylvania Diabetes Center, notes two major factors that helped lead his group to discover resistin. First, based on findings related to leptin, the now infamous hormonal fat-regulator, Lazar knew that fat not only serves to store energy, but also helps communicate with other tissues. Leptin, and other fat-secreted molecules, are proof that fat cells make unique signaling molecules that communicate with other parts of the body.
Second, the mechanism of action of one antidiabetic drug ...
