Is there a Role for Sodium Orthovanadate in the Treatment of Diabetes?

Abstract

Background: Diabetes is a metabolic disorder, whose incidences are increasing day by day. Various classes of anti-diabetic drugs are clinically approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, but unfortunately, none of them is able to treat this condition. Thus, the exploration of novel mechanistic pathways of existing molecules may help to develop more safe and effective anti-diabetic agents. Sodium orthovanadate is a well known common laboratory agent used to preserve the protein tyrosyl phosphorylation state of the protein. Methods: The data related to sodium orthovanadate and diabetes mellitus has been collected from Pubmed. Results: Various reports have indicated the potential of sodium orthovanadate as Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase (PTP1B) inhibitors which play an important role in the pathogenesis of diabetes. However, safety of Sodium orthovanadate is still questionable. Conclusion: The sodium orthovanadate could be developed as an anti-diabetic agent. However, further studies are required to confirm its safety profile in the treatment of diabetes mellitus before starting a clinical trial.