Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd., a core member of the Nippon Unipac Holding Group, (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Takahiko Miyoshi) and the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (Tsukuba, Ibaraki, President: Masaki Iwabuchi) have succeeded in jointly developing a system of generating genetically engineered rice that contains a large peptide component, making possible the accumulation in rice of the various peptide drugs discovered to date.

 

In addition, using the system in cooperation with SANWA KAGAKU KENKUYSHO CO., LTD. (Head office: Higashi-ku, Nagoya, President & CEO: Kazuo Yamamoto), Nippon Paper Industries and NIAS have been able to generate containing a large volume of GLP-1, the peptide drug that promotes insulin secretion. The partners have also confirmed in vitro that GLP-1 accumulated in the rice has the function of promoting insulin secretion. Demand for this type of rice can thus be anticipated as a therapeutic food for patients with Type Ⅱ diabetes.

 

According to a survey by Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, about 6,900,000 Japanese are thought to be suffering from diabetes mellitus, a figure that rises to 16,000,000 if at-risk patients are included. Ninety percent of this population is believed to have Type Ⅱ diabetes, which is associated with lifestyle. The blood sugar level in the human body is lowered by a hormone called insulin, which is released from the pancreas. With diabetes, insulin secretion is impaired or hindered by many different factors, leading to an inability to lower the blood sugar level, resulting in disorders in the body. GLP-1 is one of those hormones that promote the secretion of insulin in the body. Patients with diabetes are said to secrete less GLP-1.

 

The new genetically-engineered rice employs the combined technology of the MAT Vector® System developed by Nippon Paper Industries and a system of accumulating peptide in rice developed by NIAS, and contains a large quantity of the peptide drug GLP-1, which is generated based on a peptide-design technology developed by SANWA KAGAKU KENKYUSHO. Diabetes patients need to lower their blood sugar through insulin injections. Blood sugar may also be lowered by promoting insulin secretion triggered by GLP-1 included in rice, a staple food for Japanese people. The successful development of such a rice product would thus represent a major breakthrough, and would be good news for patients with Type Ⅱ diabetes. We will commercialize the rice in two to three years, following verification of efficacy and safety.

 

The research and development described above was carried out as part of the new business creation research and development project (Consortium 1: healthy/functional foods, Technical Coordinator: Fumio Takaiwa, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences), in response to a request by the Bio-oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution (Saitama, Saitama, President: Hidetaka Tsutsumi).

 

 

 

The MAT Vector® System is a transformation technology developed by Nippon Paper Industries. Conventional transformation required incorporation of genes resistant to antibiotics in addition to target genes. In contrast, the MAT Vector® System requires no antibiotic-resistant genes, enabling introduction of target genes only. As a result, antibiotic-resistant genes will not remain in genetically engineered rice with a significant peptide component.

 

Peptide is a generic term for a compound of amino acids, formed via a peptide bond

 

Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is divided into two types: Ⅰ and Ⅱ.

The secretion of insulin virtually stops because the insulin-releasing pancreatic cells have been destroyed due to an autoimmune disease or viral infection. This type of diabetes is commonly found in children and youngsters and is not associated with lifestyle.

• Type Ⅱ Diabetes

This type of diabetes is generally a so-called lifestyle disease. The secretion of insulin from the pancreas decreases or the effects of insulin do not work properly. The number of patients with Type Ⅱ diabetes overwhelmingly exceeds that for Type Ⅰ in Japan.

 

Insulin

Insulin is the unique peptide hormone that is secreted from the specific cells of the pancreas, having the effect of lowering blood sugar levels. It also facilitates transportation of glucose to muscles where glucose is consumed and promotes synthesis of glycogen and fat from glucose.