Towards a Possible Therapy for Diabetes Complications.

摘要

C-peptide is the segment connecting insulin A and B chains. It is generated in pancreatic beta cells as the natural product of pro-insulin cleavage. For a long time, it was considered biologically important only for favoring pro-insulin folding within the secretory granules of the beta cells. Consistently with this view, the standard of care for diabetic, and especially T1D patients is solely insulin-replacement therapy; C-peptide is not administrated. However, recent studies have challenged this view. It has been offered increasing evidence that human C-peptide exerts intracellular effects in a variety of cells and could be of real benefit for diabetic patients who suffer from micro-vascular complications. How exactly C-peptide achieves these intracellular effects, however, is still unknown. One major advance in this area would be the identification of the specific C-peptide receptor (CPR) at the level of the cellular membrane and characterization of C-peptide/CPR signaling to effectors upon internalization.