title: Glucagon therapeutics: Dawn of a new era for diabetes care.
abstract: Although insulin monotherapy prevents death from ketoacidosis, it does not prevent either the hyperglycemic surges or the hypoglycemic plunges of glucose levels that plague the majority of patients with type 1 diabetes. However, significant improvements have occurred with the combination of continuous insulin delivery matched by continuous glucose monitoring, but the technology is not available for all patients, requires extensive education, is expensive and moreover, while much better than standard care, it almost never reduces haemoglobin A1c(HbA1c) to below 6%. This may indicate that an improved diabetes therapy involving antagonism of glucagon action will for the first time control glucose levels to normal and eradicate the long-term complications of diabetes. Although one can never predict that results in animals will be reproduced in humans, the available evidence suggests that patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes may expect far superior control of the metabolic abnormalities without the need for significant monitoring of glucose, a very important but expensive part of any insulin regimen.
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Centre, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Jaime A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Centre, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: William L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Centre, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: May-Yun
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Centre, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Young
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Centre, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Xinxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: VA North Texas Health Care System, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Sara K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: McCorkle
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Centre, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Philipp E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Scherer
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Centre, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX, USA. Roger.Unger@utsouthwestern.edu.|VA North Texas Health Care System, Dallas, TX, USA. Roger.Unger@utsouthwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Roger H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Unger
mesh_terms: D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005934:Glucagon / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D005934:Glucagon
keywords: diabetes; glucagon; glucagon receptor; haemoglobin A1c; insulin; treatment of diabetes; type 1 and type 2 diabetes