Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Serine deficiency causes complications in diabetes

Impaired sensory-nerve function is a common complication of diabetes. Evidence in mice indicates that deficiency of the amino acid serine causes these complications — and suggests that supplements could help to treat them.
  1. Thorsten Hornemann

    1. Thorsten Hornemann is at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

One of the most common complications of type 2 diabetes is diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN), in which impaired nerve function causes a range of symptoms, including pain and numbness. DPN can lead to skin ulcers and difficulties in wound healing1 and is a leading cause of limb amputations2. There is currently no way to treat the underlying causes of DPN — a mechanism-based therapy is therefore in high demand. Writing in Nature, Handzlik et al.3 demonstrate that changes in the levels of the amino acid serine can impair nerve function, and suggest that the pathway altered could be targeted therapeutically.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Nature 614, 42-43 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00054-9

References

  1. Feldman, E. L. et al. Nature Rev. Dis. Primers 5, 41 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Molina, C. S. & Faulk, J. Lower Extremity Amputation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK546594 (StatPearls, 2022).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Handzlik, M. K. et al. Nature 614, 118–124 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Viader, A. et al. Neuron 77, 886–898 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Fernyhough, P. Curr. Diabetes Rep. 15, 89 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Singh, V. P., Bali, A., Singh, N. & Jaggi, A. S. Korean J. Physiol. Pharmacol. 18, 1–14 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Sloan, G., Selvarajah, D. & Tesfaye, S. Nature Rev. Endocrinol. 17, 400–420 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Lone, M. A., Santos, T., Alecu, I., Silva, L. C. & Hornemann, T. Biochim. Biophys. Acta Mol. Cell Biol. Lipids 1864, 512–521 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Gantner, M. L. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 381, 1422–1433 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Penno, A. et al. J. Biol. Chem. 285, 11178–11187 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Weyler, J. et al. Acta Diabetol. 58, 319–327 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Mwinyi, J. et al. PLoS ONE 12, e0175776 (2017)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Othman, A. et al. BMJ Open Diabetes Res. 3, e000073 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Fridman, V. et al. Neurology 92, e359–e370 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Othman, A. et al. Diabetes 64, 1035–1045 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links