Autophagy and Rapamycin in Preventing Experimental Diabetes Mellitus Complications

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus and its complications have emerged as global emergencies on the rise, reaching epidemic levels associated with a dramatic economic and social burden. Their prevalence is escalating significantly, ultimately leading to increasing morbidity and mortality associated with decreasing quality of life. The interconnection between the pathophysiology of DM and autophagy has been under research in the past decades, still, there is a lot to be discovered. Autophagy has been demonstrated to have a beneficial effect on DM-induced DN. However, reports on the effectiveness of this approach for the treatment of DM and its complication have been controversial. Few studies have reported that Rapamycin is beneficial for glucose metabolism, while multiple reports have found that Rapamycin reduces β-cells viability and impairs glucose tolerance. Rapamycin, an immunosuppressant mammalian target of Rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor drug was shown to stimulate β-cell autophagy, but its effects on preventing or ameliorating the DN is unclear, an effect worth to be studied.