Leptin for type 1 diabetes: coming onto stage to be (or not?).

The discovery of the adipocyte hormone leptin completely changed our view of energy metabolism. In addition, the discovery of leptin rapidly progressed to clinical development. After a decade of clinical studies, leptin appears not to be the magic bullet therapy for obesity; however, it has a robust role in rare human conditions characterized by its deficiency. Recent exciting work from the Unger laboratory suggests that leptin therapy may also have a potential role for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes. In this review we discuss the positive evidence why such an approach is worthwhile. In order to achieve this broad goal, we reviewed available literature and provided our interpretation of the evidence presented in the original research papers. The potential cautionary aspects of this novel approach will be discussed in an accompanying article.