Zhao Lifen, Ye Haifeng, Li Dongqing, Lao Xun, Li Juan, Wang Zhenghua, Xiao Lei, Wu Zirong, Huang Jing
School of Life Science, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200062, China.
Regul Pept. 2012 Oct 10;178(1-3):1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.regpep.2012.06.010. Epub 2012 Jun 29.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is produced by the posttranslational processing of proglucagon and acts as a regulator of various homeostatic events. No blood glucose regulation role of GLP-1(1-37) has previously been identified. However, our findings in this study clearly showed that GLP-1(1-37) could lower blood glucose levels both in normal and diabetic mice. In vitro stability analysis demonstrated that GLP-1(1-37) was more stable than GLP-1(7-37), with 94.7% of the initial amount of peptide left after a 4h exposure to mouse serum. Moreover, GLP-1(1-37) was confirmed to be a highly potent agonist of the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) by measuring the expression of the luciferase reporter gene expression in transiently transfected human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells. Unlike the glucose lowering effect of GLP-1(7-37), the glucose-lowering effect of GLP-1(1-37) could not be blocked by the GLP-1R antagonist exendin(9-39), suggesting that GLP-1(1-37) might activate the GLP-1R via a different mechanism. Therefore, our findings suggest that GLP-1(1-37) could be a potential therapeutic drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in the future.
