2021.9 Team's Drug Mechanism Research Published in Top-Tier International Journal, EMBO Molecular Medicine

Dr. Wen-Ching Yang's research team at Academia Sinica discovered that Pdia4 is mainly expressed in pancreatic beta-cells, and over-nutrition increases the expression of Pdia4 in human and mouse beta-cells. In diabetic mice, the Pdia4 gene knockout was found to alleviate diabetes and islet failure in the disease model, simultaneously lowering blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and reactive oxygen species (ROS), while increasing insulin secretion. More importantly, the Pdia4 gene knockout resulted in a cure for diabetes. Conversely, the overexpression of Pdia4 exacerbated diabetes and beta-cell lesions in mice. This research was published in the authoritative international journal, EMBO Molecular Medicine, in September 2021.