Overview
- In Cell Metabolism, a Gladstone‑led team reports that low oxygen drives bone marrow to produce more red blood cells that each take up more glucose via increased GLUT1.
- The glucose is rapidly converted to 2,3‑DPG, improving oxygen release, with the underlying Band 3–hemoglobin displacement of glycolytic enzymes confirmed in mouse and human red blood cells.
- In mouse diabetes models, three approaches—chronic hypoxia, red blood cell transfusion, and a pill called HypoxyStat—reversed hyperglycemia, with HypoxyStat outperforming existing drugs in those tests.
- The metabolic benefits from hypoxia persisted for weeks to months after mice returned to normal oxygen levels, indicating durable effects of the red blood cell program.
- Epidemiological patterns of lower diabetes risk at higher altitudes gain a mechanistic explanation, though the findings remain preclinical and no human trials have been reported.