Review: Development and therapeutic potential of incretin hormone analogues for type 2 diabetes

Abstract

The rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes and increasing burden of diabetic complications requires new approaches to diabetes therapy. An encouraging new approach for development of future anti-diabetic drugs is based on analogues of incretin hormones, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP). Both peptides reduce postprandial glucose by stimulating glucose-dependent insulin release and exert a number of other beneficial actions including trophic effects on the beta-cell. Efforts are currently focused on developing stable analogues of GLP-1 and GIP which are resistant to dipeptidylpeptidase IV mediated degradation and renal filtration. Thus, by increasing the half-life and potency of these incretins, they should become a new class of agents for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.