RESEARCHERS who are trying to create a treatment to protect people from life-threatening complications of type 2 diabetes have received as funding boost.
Diabetes Research Western Australia has revealed Professor Kevin Pfleger and his Perth-based team will receive $60,000.
The team is working with the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End-products (RAGE), a molecule which sits in the membrane surrounding cells.
Professor Pfleger said RAGE was only present in cells that were injured or stressed, which was the case with type 2 diabetes.
He said he hoped RAGE could be used to prevent the condition and it could "definitely" be used to help to fight it.
"With our collaborators, we've discovered a new way in which this molecule is activated, triggering a cascade of signalling in cells that leads to inflammation and cell injury," he said.
"We've found a way to inhibit this process which should, in turn, limit the complications of type 2 developing, so it's incredibly exciting."
The project is being carried out in collaboration with leading diabetes researcher Professor Merlin Thomas from Monash University.
According to Diabetes Australia, 280 Australians develop diabetes each day and type 2 diabetes accounts for 85 per cent of all diabetes.
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