Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Sep 15, 2023; 14(9): 1330-1333
Published online Sep 15, 2023. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v14.i9.1330
Recent therapeutic targets for the prevention and management of diabetic complications
Md Shahidul Islam, Lu Cai, Michael Horowitz
Md Shahidul Islam, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4000, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Lu Cai, Pediatric Research Institute, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202, United States
Michael Horowitz, Department of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia
Author contributions: Islam MS conceptualized and drafted the initial manuscript and revised after receiving reviewers' comments; Cai L and Horowitz M revised and edited the original and revised manuscript before submission.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Islam MS, Cai L and Horowitz M have nothing to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Md Shahidul Islam, BSc, MSc, PhD, Professor, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University Road, Chiltern Hills, Durban 4000, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. islamd@ukzn.ac.za
Received: August 16, 2023
Peer-review started: August 16, 2023
First decision: August 24, 2023
Revised: August 31, 2023
Accepted: September 5, 2023
Article in press: September 5, 2023
Published online: September 15, 2023
Processing time: 28 Days and 2.9 Hours
Abstract

Diabetes and associated complications represent major global public health issues which are associated with impaired quality of life and premature death. Although some diabetic complications have decreased in the developed world, the majority are still prevalent, with an increasing trend in the developing world. Currently used therapies are mainly ‘glucocentric’, focusing on the optimization of glycemic control to prevent, delay or manage diabetes-associated complications- other common comorbidities, such as dyslipidemia and hypertension are often underestimated. Although a number of novel therapeutic approaches have been reported recently, some of them have not received comparable attention in relation to either further studies or potential clinical implementation. This editorial briefly discusses some recent therapeutic approaches to the prevention and management of diabetes and its associated complications, as well as potential directions for future research and development in this area.

Keywords: Diabetic complications; Oxidative stress; Phytochemicals; Zinc; Silent information regulator 1; FOXO; Micro RNA

Core Tip: 'Glucocentric' approaches are currently being used for the management of diabetes and its associated complications. This articles highlighted some recent therapeutic approaches for the management of diabetes and its associated complications such as the management of oxidative stress by using antioxidative phytochemicals, molecular cell signaling pathways via Silent information regulator 1 and FOXOs and micro RNAs.