Abstract
Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been a great burden to the world and it is urgent to develop new treatment strategies. Recently, many targets are currently available to aid in the drug discovery of this disease as our understanding of the pathophysiology of T2DM develops.
Objective: This article is intended to provide a broad ranging overview of 14 prominent molecule targets being pursued for the treatment of diabetes in recent decade, with regard to their therapeutic rationale, small molecule modulators and application prospects.
Result: These targets are roughly divided into three general areas that correlate with insulin secretion, act on the insulin sensitivity, and have an effect on the complications, and these three kinds of targets are all helpful for the treatment of T2DM. Considering the fact that the lack of insulin become the main problem with the progress of T2DM, these targets based on insulin secretion would be more promising.
Conclusion: Most of these new and potential targets mentioned in article lack clinical data and may or may not come to fruition for the treatment of diabetes in the future. Hence, further studies will illuminate the potential for each drug targets, although it is clear that this will take a lot of time.
Keywords: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance, insulin secretion, targets, mechanism, drugs.
Graphical Abstract
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