Islet cell research brings hope for a diabetes cure: meeting report from the 6(th) annual islet society meeting in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

The International Diabetes Federation predicts that, over the next twenty years, the largest increase in the prevalence of diabetes will be in the Africa region. Recognizing an unmet need for more focus on Africa and engagement with African scholars, the Islet Society held its 6th annual meeting July 20-21, 2014 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Here, we present a report that covers the presentations and discussion points from that meeting. Work was presented on a variety of topics and included presentations by a significant proportion of Africa diabetes researchers. Overall, it was an excellent conference, with many new international collaborations initiated. We hope that other groups will also respond to the need for more conferences in Africa and focused on Africa.

Thiazolidinedione-induced lipid droplet formation during osteogenic differentiation.

Chronic administration of the insulin-sensitising drugs, thiazolidinediones (TZDs), results in low bone mineral density and 'fatty bones'. This is thought to be due, at least in part, to aberrant differentiation of progenitor mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) away from osteogenesis towards adipogenesis. This study directly compared the effects of rosiglitazone, pioglitazone, and netoglitazone treatment on osteogenesis and adipogenesis in MSCs derived from subcutaneous (SC) or visceral (PV) white adipose tissue. MSCs were isolated from adipose tissue depots of male Wistar rats and characterised using flow cytometry. The effects of TZD treatment on osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation were assessed histologically (day 14) and by quantitative PCR analysis (Pparγ2 (Pparg2), Ap2 (Fabp4), Adipsin (Adps), Msx2, Collagen I (Col1a1), and Alp) on days 0, 7, and 10. Uniquely, lipid droplet formation and mineralisation were found to occur concurrently in response to TZD treatment during osteogenesis. Compared with SC MSCs, PV MSCs were more prone to lipid accumulation under controlled osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation conditions. This study demonstrated that the extent of lipid accumulation is dependent on the nature of the Ppar ligand and that SC and PV MSCs respond differently to in vitro TZD treatment, suggesting that metabolic status can contribute to the adverse effects associated with TZD treatment.

Malaria heat shock proteins: drug targets that chaperone other drug targets.

Ongoing research into the chaperone systems of malaria parasites, and particularly of Plasmodium falciparum, suggests that heat shock proteins (Hsps) could potentially be an excellent class of drug targets. The P. falciparum genome encodes a vast range and large number of chaperones, including 43 Hsp40, six Hsp70, and three Hsp90 proteins (PfHsp40s, PfHsp70s and PfHsp90s), which are involved in a number of fundamental cellular processes including protein folding and assembly, protein translocation, signal transduction and the cellular stress response. Despite the fact that Hsps are relatively conserved across different species, PfHsps do exhibit a considerable number of unique structural and functional features. One PfHsp90 is thought to be sufficiently different to human Hsp90 to allow for selective targeting. PfHsp70s could potentially be used as drug targets in two ways: either by the specific inhibition of Hsp70s by small molecule modulators, as well as disruption of the interactions between Hsp70s and co-chaperones such as the Hsp70/Hsp90 organising protein (Hop) and Hsp40s. Of the many PfHsp40s present on the parasite, there are certain unique or essential members which are considered to have good potential as drug targets. This review critically evaluates the potential of Hsps as malaria drug targets, as well as the use of chaperones as aids in the heterologous expression of other potential malarial drug targets.