Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
Curr Med Chem. 2013;20(7):899-907.
Autoimmune diseases are the third largest category of illness in the industrialized world, following cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Among them, type 1 diabetes, also named autoimmune diabetes, afflicts 10 million people worldwide. This disease is caused by autoimmunity-mediated destruction of pancreatic β-cells, leading to insulin deficiency, hyperglycemia and complications. Currently, there is no cure for type 1 diabetes. Insulin injection is the only medication; however, it accompanies serious medical complications. Current strategies to cure type 1 diabetes include immunotherapy, replacement therapy, and combination therapy. Despite recent advances in anti-diabetic strategies, no strategy is clinically successful. How to cure type 1 diabetes without undesirable side effects still remains a formidable challenge in drug research and development. Plants provide an extraordinary source of natural medicines for different diseases. Moreover, secondary metabolites of plant origin serve as an invaluable chemical library for drug discovery and current medicinal chemistry in the pharmaceutical industry. Over the past 25 years, 50% of prescription drugs have been developed from natural products and their derivatives. In this article, we review more than 20 plant compounds and extracts reported in the literature to prevent and treat type-1 diabetes. Emphasis is placed on their chemistry and biology in terms of regulation of immune cells and pancreatic β-cells. We summarize recent progress in understanding the biological actions, mechanisms and therapeutic potential of the compounds and extracts of plant origin in type 1 diabetes. New views on phytocompound-based strategies for prevention and treatment of type 1 diabetes are also discussed.
自身免疫性疾病是工业化世界中第三大疾病类别，仅次于心血管疾病和癌症。其中，1 型糖尿病，也称为自身免疫性糖尿病，影响全球 1000 万人。这种疾病是由自身免疫介导的胰腺β细胞破坏引起的，导致胰岛素缺乏、高血糖和并发症。目前，1 型糖尿病尚无治愈方法。胰岛素注射是唯一的药物；然而，它伴随着严重的医疗并发症。目前治疗 1 型糖尿病的策略包括免疫疗法、替代疗法和联合疗法。尽管在抗糖尿病策略方面取得了最近的进展，但没有一种策略在临床上是成功的。如何在没有不良副作用的情况下治愈 1 型糖尿病仍然是药物研发中的一个艰巨挑战。植物为治疗不同疾病提供了非凡的天然药物来源。此外，植物来源的次生代谢产物是药物发现和当前制药行业中药物化学的宝贵化学库。在过去的 25 年中，50%的处方药是从天然产品及其衍生物开发而来的。在本文中，我们综述了文献中报道的 20 多种用于预防和治疗 1 型糖尿病的植物化合物和提取物。重点介绍了它们在调节免疫细胞和胰腺β细胞方面的化学和生物学特性。我们总结了近年来对植物来源的化合物和提取物在 1 型糖尿病中的生物学作用、机制和治疗潜力的理解的最新进展。还讨论了基于植物化合物的预防和治疗 1 型糖尿病的新观点。
