title: Autophagy as a target for development of anti-diabetes drugs derived from natural compounds.
abstract: Patients with diabetes have a high level of blood glucose because their body cannot produce enough insulin or properly respond to this hormone. In both situations, it has become evident that persistent high concentrations of glucose, insulin, insulin-like growth factor, and insulin resistance lead to dysfunction and destruction of autophagic activity in the cells of islet and other organs involved in complications of diabetes, including the liver, cardiovascular, and nervous systems. Accumulating evidences have revealed that autophagy is a novel therapeutic target with a wide range of beneficial effects on diabetes and that plenty of drugs and natural products are involved in autophagy modulation, either inducing or inhibiting autophagy, through multiple signaling pathways. In this review, we summarize the roles of several clinical drugs and compounds derived from natural products in diabetes and its complications through regulation of autophagy, expecting to inspire further investigation of the underlying mechanisms of these compounds and to facilitate their better clinical application.
authors.affiliation: a Molecular Immunology and Pharmacology Group, State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Functions of Natural Medicines , Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College , Beijing 100050 , China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Wei
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: a Molecular Immunology and Pharmacology Group, State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Functions of Natural Medicines , Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College , Beijing 100050 , China.
authors.forename: Ji-Chao
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: a Molecular Immunology and Pharmacology Group, State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Functions of Natural Medicines , Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College , Beijing 100050 , China.
authors.forename: Zhuo-Wei
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000187:drug effects*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000502:physiology; D015394:Molecular Structure; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents
keywords: Diabetes; autophagy; natural compounds